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ED 427 902

RC 021 798

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Swisher, Karen Gayton, Ed./ Tippeconnic, John W. , III, Ed.
Next Steps: Research and Practice To Advance Indian
Education.

ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools,
Charleston, WV.

Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED) ,
Washington, DC.

ISBN-1-880785-21-8

1999-00-00

32 5p.; Individual chapters have been separately analyzed;
see RC 021 799-811.

RR93002012

ERIC/CRESS, P.O. Box 1348, Charleston, WV 25325 ($24.00).
Books (010) -- Collected Works - General (020) -- ERIC

Publications (071)

MF01/PC13 Plus Postage.

Alaska Natives; *American Indian Education; American
Indians; College Students; Colleges; *Culturally Relevant
Education; Curriculum Development; Educational History;
Educational Legislation; *Educational Research; Elementary
Secondary Education; Higher Education; Teacher Education;
Theory Practice Relationship; *Tribally Controlled Education

ABSTRACT

Written entirely by Native authors, this book addresses some
critical issues in the education of American Indian and Alaska Native
students. Intended for college classrooms, it aims to fill a void in the
literature and textbooks used in multicultural and teacher education
programs. The book has four sections: the past and present foundations of
Indian education; curriculum issues, thoughts, and practice; the college and
university experience; and next steps (research to support improved
practice) . Chapters are: (1) "The Unnatural History of American Indian

Education" (K. Tsianina Lomawaima) ; (2) "Tribal Control of American Indian

Education: Observations Since the 1960s with Implications for the Future"
(John W. Tippeconnic III) ; (3) "Education and the Law: Implications for

American Indian/Alaska Native Students" (Linda Sue Warner) ; (4) "Culturally

Appropriate Curriculum: A Research- Based Rationale" (Tara jean Yazzie) ; (5)

"Teaching through Traditions: Incorporating Languages and Culture into
Curricula" (Linda Skinner) ; (6) "The Native American Learner and Bicultural

Science Education" (Gregory A. Cajete) ; (7) "Student Assessment in Indian

Education or What Is a Roach?" (Sandra J. Fox) ; (8) "Effective Counseling

with American Indian Students" (Deborah Wetsit) ; (9) "The Role of Social Work

in Advancing the Practice of Indigenous Education: Obstacles and Promises in
Empowerment-Oriented Social Work Practice" (Michael J. Yellow Bird, Venida
Chenault) ; (10) "American Indians and Alaska Natives in Higher Education:

Promoting Access and Achievement" (D. Michael Pavel); (11) "Tribal Colleges:
1968-1998" (Wayne J. Stein) ; (12) "The Vanishing Native Reappears in the

College Curriculum" (Clara Sue Kidwell) ; and (13) "Research To Support
Improved Practice in Indian Education" (Karen Gayton Swisher, John W.
Tippeconnic III) . Contains references in each chapter and an index. (SV)

021 798

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE TO
ADVANCE INDIAN EDUCATION

EDITED BY

KAREN CAYTON SWISHER AND
JOHN W. TIPPECONNIC III

U S- DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
ot Educational H*s«*ren and impiovamani

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
✓ CENTER (ERIC)

Or This document has been reproduced as
received from the person or organization
originating it

□ Mi.tor changes have been made to
improve reproduction quality

• Points of view or opinions stated m this
document do not necessarily represent
official OERI position o t policy

i Ant C

Next Steps

Research and Practice to
Advance Indian Education

edited by

Karen Gayton Swisher
and

John W. Tippeconnic III

Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools
Charleston, West Virginia

P-m-hl

Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools

Appalachia Educational Laboratory
P.O. Box 1348, Charleston, YVV 25325
www. a el . org/eric /

0 1999 by the Appalachia Educational Laboratory. Inc.
All rights reserved (except for use by the U.S. government).

Printed by Chapman Printing Co., Huntington. YVV
Cover illustration bv John MacDonald. YVilliamstown, MA

Cover design by Richard Mendel. Chapel Hill, NC

Library of Congress Cataloging -in-Publication Data

Next steps r research and practice to advance Indian education/
edited by Karen Gayton Swisher and John \V. Tippeconnic III.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.

ISBN 1-880785-21-8 (alk. paper)

1. Indians ot North America— Education (Higher) 2. Indian college
students— North America. 3. Indian teachers— Training of— North
America 4. Education and State-North America. 1. Swisher, Karen
Gayton, 1943- . II. Tippeconnic, John.

E97.55.N48 1999

371. 829 *97— dc2 1 98-50364

pi t*

A A"

ISBN 1-880785-21-8

«>lhe paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
tht Amet it an National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence ot
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-J984

This publication was prepared with funding from the U.S. Department of
Education, Olfice of Educational Research and Improvement, National
Library of Education, under contract no. RR93002012. The opinions ex-
pressed herein do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the
Appalachia Educational Laboratory, or the Department of Education.

‘Hie ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools is operated
by the Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AKL). Inc. AKL is an Equal
Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

I I

Pitt>Acr

Contents

Preface

Karen Gaytan Swisher (Standing Rock Sioux) and

John W. Tippeconnic HI (Comanche) vii

Contributors xi

Part I. The Past and Present Foundations of
Indian Education

1. The Unnatural History of American Indian Education

A* Tsianina Lomawaima (Muskogee/Creek) 1

2. Tribal Control of American Indian Education: Observations
Since the 1960s with Implications for the Future

John IV. Tippeconnic FI I ( Comanche) 33

3. Education and the Law: Implications for American Indian/
Alaska Native Students

Linda Sue Warner (Comanche) 53

Part II. Curriculum Issues, Thoughts, and Practice

4. Culturally Appropriate Curriculum: A Research- Based
Rationale

Tarajean Yazzie (Navajo) 83

5. Teaching Through Traditions: Incorporating Languages
and Culture into Curricula

Undo Skinner (Choctaw) 107

6. The Native American Learner and Bicultura! Science
Education

Gregory A. Cajete (Santa Clara Pueblo) 135

7. Student Assessment in Indian Education wVVhat Is A Roach?

Sandra J. Fox (Ogla/a Lakota) 161

8. Effective Counseling with American Indian Students

Deborah Wetsit (Assiniboine) 179

9. The Role of Social Work in Advancing the Practice of
Indigenous Education: Obstacles and Promises in
Empowerment-Oriented Social Work Practice
Michael J. J e/lou * Bird (Sahnish/llidatsa)

I 'enida (henau/t (Prairie Band Potawatomi) 301

PRFFACE

Part III. The College and University Experience

10. American Indians and Alaska Natives in Higher
Education: Promoting Access and Achievement

D. Michael Pavel (Skokomish) 239

11. Tribal Colleges: 1968-1998

Wayne J. Stein (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) 259

12. The Vanishing Indian Reappears in the College Curriculum

Clara Sue Kid well (Choctaw Sr Chippewa) 27!

Part IV. The Next Steps

13. Research to Support Improved Practice in Indian Education
Karen Cay ton Swis.' n r (Standing Rock Sioux)

John W. Tippeconnic III (Comanche)

295

PfJFFACf

Preface

In this nation’s 300 years of formal education of Indigenous
people, the last four decades have been most significant to American
Indian and Alaska Native communities. These years mark the pro-
gression of self-determination in the education of children and youth
in Indigenous communities. The “right’ to self-determination was
“granted” by federal policy and legislation in 1975; however, the
momentum began building during the civil rights protests of the
1960s. Since then, significant progress has been made in every facet
of education.

The first tribally chartered/controlled colleges are 25-30 years
old, and there are now 31 of them. Approximately 60 percent of the
schools supported by the bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) are now
locally controlled through grants or contracts. Indian Education Act
and Johnson O’Malley (JOM) programs have resulted in more pa-
rental involvement and more culturally relevant activities in public
schools. Indigenous people are excelling in the fine arts, literature,
motion pictures, sports, science, medicine, and education. We proudly
claim the first Indigenous astronaut, John Bennett Herrington, who
is Chickasaw. Role modeling is working, and a majority of our young
people are getting the message that they can excel if they want to. As
we close out another decade and another century, the state of Indig-
enous education is in better shape than ever before in history.

While we celebrate the renaissance of Indigenous thought and
actions, we recognize many issues still need to be addressed and
resolved. The promise of resolution lies in the hands of those who
care most about the issues— Indigenous people. There is promise in
the growing number of tribally controlled elementary and secondary
schools and early childhood programs, which provide Indigenous
knowledge bases for younger students. There is promise in the pro-
liferation of tribal colleges, which provide higher education to citi-
zens who otherwise would not have access. There is promise in the
number of Indigenous people who have chosen the professorate in
mainstream colleges and universities as a career path. There is
promise in the number of teacher preparation programs (estab-

vii

P'.'H AC .l

lishcd and developing), which address the need for Indigenous teach-
ers— a need recognized in nearly every major study in the field of
Indian education in the last 20 years. 1 There is promise in the
renewal of Native studies programs that emphasize history, law,
literature, or some other discipline. Effective practice based on re-
search is demonstrated in the school improvement efforts of reser-
vation grant, contract, and BIA-operated schools in the 34 states in
which they are located.

Donna Deyhle and Karen Swisher thoroughly reviewed the re-
search in American Indian and Alaska Native education and con-
clude that, until recently, research has not made a difference in the
education ot Native students. Recent research has emphasized cul-
tural strengths and cultural integrity as a constructivist base for
effective practice, versus the deficit model under which schools op-
erated for too many years. This research has enabled local knowl-
edge (language, culture, history, and philosophy) to take a more
prominent place in the role of schooling. We now know more about
learning styles and how individuals approach the teaching and learn-
ing situation. We know that caring teachers have great impact on
students’ decisions about staying in school or leaving. We know a
great deal, but much still needs to be investigated. 2

Next Steps is a tribute to the intellectual strengths and talents of
American Indian and Alaska Native people. It is an attempt by
Native authors to address some critical issues in education. It is
written for college or university classrooms to fill a void in the

literature and textbooks used in multicultural and teacher education
programs. Given the complexity of the field of Indian education, this
book is not comprehensive. Some important areas are not addressed
here: early childhood education, special education, use of technol-
ogy, gender issues, leadership, preparation of teachers, and adult
education. Also not addressed are two critical concerns preservice
teachers should know more about: (1) education history and con-
temporary issues of Alaska Natives and (2) the education of Indig-
enous children in urban areas. In spite of the voids, this book is
unique. To our knowledge, it is the first text about Indian education,

among the many that exist, that is written entirely by Native authors.

In Part I, three authors discuss historical, contemporary, and
legal aspects of Native education. K. Tsianina Lomawaima critically

viii

PoUfcLE

examines colonial education, arguing that it produced unnatural
ideas regarding civilization, Christianization, subordination of Na-
tive communities, and presumed intellectual deficiencies. The con-
temporary aspects of Indian education are discussed by John VV.
Tippeconnic 111 through a review of the literature surrounding local
control of Indian education. Finally Linda Sue Warner presents an
overview of federal education case law as it relates to all students,
including implications for American Indian and Alaska Native stu-
dents.

Part II focuses on curricula. Seven authors present their thoughts
about curriculum foundations, theories, and practices, and how these
relate to culture. Tara jean Yazzie examines the theoretical and prac-
tical research regarding the need for inclusion or integration of
culture in curricula for Native learners. Linda Skinner fleshes out
this topic with a discussion of exemplary programs, successful strat-
egies. and suggestions for more effective practices. Gregory A. Cajete
takes a more specific approach, asking readers to consider bicultural
foundations in the development and delivery of science curricula for
Native learners. Assessment of learning is a continuing concern for
educators who believe that standardized achievement tests do not
accurately reflect the magnitude of learning experienced by Native
learners. Sandra J. Fox discusses new methods of assessing student
learning that provide a fairer and more complete picture of what
Native learners know and can do. The importance of historical un-
derstanding and a culturally specific knowledge base in counseling is
adeptly defined and discussed by Deborah Wetsit. She points to the
need for cross-cultural strategies not generally practiced by non-
Native counselors. Finally Michael Yellow Bird and Venida Chcnault,
both social work educators, link social work to advancing practice in
the education of Native learners. Their chapter reminds educators
that students live their daily lives in several critical settings outside
the school walls.

In Part III, three authors consider the college and university
experience. D. Michael Pavel presents data on two important areas
of postsecondary education, access and achievement. Access data
are examined through precollege attributes, achievement data are
examined using national data on enrollment and degrees conferred,
and actions are presented that promote both access and achieve-

meat. In a chapter about the development of tribal colleges, Wayne
J. Stein reviews this successful alternative to mainstream education
initiated 30 years ago. Predating the tribal college movement was
another effort grounded in principles of sovereignty and cultural and
linguistic integrity: Native studies programs. In the last chapter of
this part, Clara Sue Kidwell discusses the development and evolution
of Native American or American Indian Studies programs.

Part IV concerns the next steps that must be taken to maintain the
momentum of the past 40 years. Karen Guyton Swisher and John W.
Tippeconnic III outline some actions that Native and non-Native
educators must consider as they work to improve the education of
Native students.

Progress has been made, but much more work remains. ’Phis
book is an attempt to engage authors and readers in thinking about
the next steps for advancing research and practice in Indian educa-

tion.

Notes

1. We use the colloquial term Indian education , recognizing that it does
not appropriately name the field of education involved with the education of
American Indian and Alaska Native peoples in this country. I lowever, it is the
official term used in legislation related to American Indian and Alaska Native
education and self-determination. We prefer the terms Indigenous. Native, or
American Indian and Alaska Native.

2. See Donna Devhle and Karen Swisher, “Research in American Indian
and Alaska Native Education: Prom Assimilation to Self-Determination.” In
Review of Research in Education. Yol. 22. edited by Michael W, Apple.
Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association (1997).

1.i

Preface

Contributors

Gregory A. Cajete, Ph. D. (Santa Clara Pueblo) is an educator,
artist, and educational consultant. He is Tewa from Santa Clara
Pueblo, New Mexico. He has taught extensively at the Institute of
American Indian Arts in Santa Fe and has lectured nationally and
internationally. Currently he is an assistant professor in the College
of Education at the University of New Mexico,

Venida Chenault (Prairie Band Potawatomi) is a faculty member
at Haskell Indian Nations University and a doctoral student in Social
Welfare at the University of Kansas. Her interests include the impact
of tribal casinos on the social fabric of Indigenous communities and
structural empowerment of First Nations Peoples.

Sandra Fox, Ed.D. (Oglala Lakota) has worked for the Bureau of
Indian Affairs as a teacher, education specialist (area and central
office levels), and team leader. She also provided assistance to schools
through Indian Education Act Resource Centers in Bismarck, ND,
and Washington. DC. Her main focus areas have been improving the
teaching of language arts, including culture in instruction, and school
reform.

Clara Sue Kidwell, Ph.D. (Choctaw & Chippewa) directs the
Native American Studies program at the University of Oklahoma.
Previously she taught at Haskell Indian Junior College. University of
Minnesota, University of California at Berkeley, and Dartmouth
College. Her teaching areas include Native American history, phi-
losophy, and medicine, with special interest in Native systems of
knowledge.

K. Tsianina Lomawaima, Ph.D. (Muskogee/Creek) is a faculty
member of the University of Arizona American Indian Studies pro-
gram. She teaches courses on various historical and contemporary
issues related to American Indian education and societies. She is the
author of the award-winning book They Called It Prairie Light: The
Story ofChUocco Indian School

D. Michael Pavel, Ph.D. (Skokomish), is an assistant professor in
the College of Education at Washington State University. His teach-
ing and research interests include tribal colleges. Indian education,
and higher education access and achievement. He is also involved in
the lifelong process of being trained as a traditional bearer of the
sacred and traditional way of life among the Skokomish.

Linda Skinner (Choctaw) is a mother and schoolteacher in Okla-
homa. With 27 years of experience as an educator, she has been a
classroom teacher, curriculum specialist, and teacher educator in
the United States and Canada. The recipient of many awards, her
background in instructional design, innovative methods, and multi-
media approaches for teaching is rooted in parent and community
involvement.

Wayne J. Stein, Ed.D. (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) is an associ-
ate professor and director of Native American Studies at Montana
State University. He works closely with Montana tribal communi-
ties, governments, and colleges. He teaches graduate and under-
graduate courses and formerly served as president of Standing Rock
College and as Vice-President for Academic Affairs at Ft. Bcrthold
Community College.

Karen Gavton Swisher, Ph.D. (Standing Rock Sioux) is Dean of
Instruction at Haskell Indian Nations University. In addition to
serving as chair of the Teacher Education Department at Haskell,
Swisher has been a faculty member at the University of Utah and
Arizona State University, where she served as Director of the Center
for Indian Education. She has also been an elementary school
teacher and principal.

John W. Tippcconnic III, Ph.D. (Comanche) is a professor of
education at The Pennsylvania State University, where he directs the
American Indian Leadership program. He has also solved as direc-
tor of the Office of Indian Education, U.S, Department of Education
and director of the Office of Indian Education Programs, Bureau of
Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of Interior.

1 \

Linda Sue Warner, Ph.I). (Comanche) is CKO of the Indian
Community School in Milwaukee, \VI. She taught Kducational Lead-
ership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri-Columbia,
the Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Kansas.

Deborah Wetsit, Pd.l). (Assiniboine) holds a doctorate in coun-
seling (emphasis in cross-cultural counseling); is a former faculty
member at the University of Montana; and is the former dean of
instruction at Haskell Indian Nations University. She is the distance
learning coordinator for the Montana Corsortium which is made up
of three tribal colleges and a small private college in Billings, MT.
She also works extensively with In-Care Network, Inc., a therapeutic
foster care program for American Indian children and their families.

Tarajean Yazzie (Navajo) is a doctoral student at the Harvard
Graduate School of Kdueation. Her research interests are learning
and teaching in schools serving American Indian students, particu-
larly teachers' roles in defining, developing, and implementing a
culturally appropriate curriculum for Native children. She also serves
as eochair of the Harvard Educational Review Board (1998-99).

Michael Yellow Bird (Sahnish/Hidalsa) is an assistant professor
in the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas. His
current work examines the effects of colonialism on Indigenous
peoples in the United States and strategies for decolonization. He is
coediting a hook on social work practice with First Nations Peoples.

Part I

Tin-: Past and Prhshnt
Foundations of Indian Education

i \

The Unnatural History of
American Indian Education

K. Tsianinw Lomawaima'

A critical examination of the colonial education of American
Indians unearths the roots of many stereotypical beliefs about
the culture and capability of Native Americans. The phrase
colonial education refers to the reculturing and reeducation of Ameri-
can Indians by the secular and religious institutions of colonizing
nations— Spain, Great Britain, France, and the United States of
America. Deep-seated ideas and practices that were accepted as
naturalhy past colonizers continue to undergird contemporary ste-
reotypes about American Indians.

In truth, there was nothing natural or true about the tenets of
colonial education: (!) that Native Americans were savages and had
to be civilized; (2) that civilization required Christian conversion; (B)
that civilization required subordination of Native communities, fre-
quently achieved through resettlement efforts; and (4) that Native
people had mental, moral, physical, or cultural deficiencies that
made certain pedagogical methods necessary for their education.
Those tenets were not based on natural truths but were culturally
constructed and served specific agendas of the colonizing nations,
hence the title for this chapter. Although these ideas have become

naturalized, or taken for granted over time, they should be ques-
tioned and analyzed.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language de-
fines natural history as “the study of natural objects and organisms,
their origins, evolution, interrelationships, and description." Natu-
ral objects and organisms are those that arc “produced by nature,
not artificial or man-made." The study of American Indians has
often been subsumed under the topic of “natural history." Our peoples
and cultures have been presented in static dioramas in natural his-
tory museums as though we were nonlntman subjects, undeserving
of inclusion within museums devoted to “American" (i.e.. non-Na-
tive) history, culture, and civilization. The racist implications of the
“unnatural history" of Indians extend beyond our exclusion from
human history. We should also think carefully about uses of the
word natural iXvM. imply normal \ true, or connnonsense. As human
beings, we take for granted much of what we think, experience, and
remember. Over time, certain ideas and perceptions of the world are
taken as natural— in other words, not as artificial or man-made but
as unexceptional components of the natural order of things. Over the
years, certain invented and stereotypic ideas about American Indi-
ans have been accepted, by both Indians and non- Indians, as self-
evident, natural truths. Many untrue ideas have been aggressively
promulgated by European and American authorities.

The invention and dissemination of distortions or inaccuracies
occurred because they proved useful in advancing various goals of
colonizing nations. For example, for centuries, non-Indian histori-
ans and observers of American Indian life underestimated the dev-
astating impact of infectious disease on American Indian popula-
tions.’ European Americans viewed the New World as a sparsely
populated virgin wilderness, thinly settled by roaming nomadic
groups. This suited the notion that it was European American mani-
fest destiny to “settle" this continent: If few Native people lived here,
colonial intrusion could be described as settlement rather than con-
quest. Acknowledging that much of North America was well popu-
lated by Indian communities with advanced agricultural sciences
and sophisticated technologies would have made European Ameri-
can notions of settlement much more difficult to justify. ‘ Hence,
images of “the virgin wilderness" and “roaming nomads" became
accepted over time as natural truths.

Tnr U-.r He.

» Av-t -

I*. i

The four tenets of colonial education mentioned earlier represent
other untruths that have dominated educational institutions in North
America since long before the United States government was estab-
lished. This chapter discusses in particular detail the third and fourth
tenets: the resettlement of Native people and the development
of “special'' pedagogies for Native people. That I focus on these
concepts and leave other things out of this natural history calls for
some explanation.

The term American Indian education has been used to refer to
two distinctly different, segregated, and often opposing worlds: (1)
the education of American Indian children by their parents, ex-
tended families, and communities, and (2) the education of Ameri-
can Indian children, teenagers, adults, and communities by colonial
authorities, particularly Kuropean American institutions. This chap-
ter focuses on the second world, the education of Indian people by
the colonial powers of Spain. Great Britain, France, and the United
States. 1 do not survey the educational theories, practices, and insti-
tutions American Indian communities and parents have developed
over the centuries to educate their own children. My reasons are
practical, ideological, and historical.

On the practical side, it is impossible to survey adequately both
worlds of Indian education— the education of Indians by Indians
and the education of Indians by others— in one chapter. Native
America is remarkably diverse, encompassing hundreds of commu-
nities with distinct languages, cultures, philosophies, and educa-
tional systems that defy easy generalizations. Ideologically, I resist
generalizations about American Indians because so many stereo-
types rest on the mistaken assumption that all Indians are alike.
Whether lazy or noble, drunken or stoic, poverty-stricken or living in
harmony with nature, we are all lumped together in an artificial
category that is anything but natural.

Historically, the goals of the colonial education of American Indi-
ans have been to transform Indian people and societies and to eradi-
cate Indian self-government, self-determination, and self-education.
In the late twentieth century, long after the U.S. independence from
Great Britain, Indian education often still means the education of
Indians by non-Indians. Many current attitudes, programs, prac-
tices, and beliefs continue the legacy of Indian education by others',
these are contemporary expressions of colonial education.

K. K-v.-na U.maaa.v-.

While this chapter focuses on how non-Indians have imposed
education on Indians, it is important to recognize that, in varying
degrees. Indian self-education has survived under tremendous du-
ress. Recently windows of opportunity have been opened more widely
in the United States, making it possible for Indian communities to
reassert and regain powers of self-governance, self-determination,
and self-education, the three fundamental components of tribal sov-
ereignty. The other chapters in this book attest to this truth.’

In the earliest interactions, Europeans constructed a model of
appropriate education for Indians. This model included ideas and
practices or. in other words, theory and methods. Educators, then as
now, were concerned with these questions: What is the purpose of
education? Who has authority to teach? Who are the students?
Where should this education take place? What teaching methods are
most suitable? What should the curriculum cover? What are stu-
dents being prepared for? In addressing these questions, colonizing
nations developed educational theory and methods particular to the
colonial education of Indigenous populations, and to imported popu-
lations such as Africans brought to the Americas as slaves.

In surveying the educational theory and methods developed for
American Indian communities by Spain. Great Britain, France, and
the United States, I identified four common tenets of Indian educa-
tion shared by the colonizing nations. I propose that these tenets
have assumed a status as natural requirements, what must be
achieved in order to educate Native Americans.

Until recently, official colonial education policy conflated the first
two tenets. Civilization and Christian conversion were assumed for
centuries to be the same thing. ■ Full status in one category required
full status in the other. The separation of church and state, a founda-
tion of our public school system, was not initiated in federal Indian
hoarding schools until the l9B()s.'’

Accordingly, I consider the first two tenets, civili/.ation and
conversion , side by side. I then elaborate on the third and fourth
tenets— new model communities and appropriate pedagogical
methods— in considerable detail because these factors are gener-
ally less well understood. Finally, I suggest ways the legacies of
colonial education have been carried into today’s classrooms and
communities.

Tenets 1 and 2: American Indians Need to be Civilized;
Civilization Requires Christian Conversion.

Samuel Chapman Armstrong wrote. “Only the light of Christian
truth and example, steadily shining, can lift men up." Kuropean
notions of "savagery" and "civilization” were imported to the New
World; they structured the very first Kuropean interactions with,
and perceptions of. Native America. Deep-seated Kuropean fears of
the unknown, the "wild," the forest, and “barbarians" who lived in
the wilderness can be traced back to Greek philosophy. Those fears
permeated Kurope in the centuries before Columbus stumbled onto
America; we see their influence in the Spanish expulsion of Moors
and .lews, in the British conquest of Ireland, and elsewhere."

Of course, a fourteenth-century Spanish Catholic priest carrying
out the orders of the Inquisition believed he was carrying out the
orders of God. The natural order of things demanded that heresy,
whether Judaism or Islam, be eradicated. It is unlikely that such a
priest ever considered the possibility that the supremacy of Chris-
tianity might he an artificial or man-made idea. He accepted it as a
natural truth. In this unquestioning way. the natural dominion of
the Christian God was carried to the Americas.

As recently as the 1940s. the historian Sister Mary Stanislaus Van
Well wrote that Catholic missionaries in the Southwest had to con-
trol every aspect of Indian education because “nothing contrary to
Christian religious teaching and morality can he tolerated by the
Church. Hence the Church has the right to supervise all phases of the
education of those who belong to her fold." Similarly, when the
French returned to Quebec after their brief displacement (1629-
1632) by the Knglish, l ; ather Paul I.eJeune led the Jesuit Order in
what one historian has termed "an a'J-out offensive" against Native
religions. LoJouno's Jesuits naively expected they would achieve
their proselytizing mission within one generation; they were to be
disappointed. The French were secure, nonetheless, in their convic-
tion that “by the process of evangelization and assimilation, the
Amerindian would become humanise as well w^francisr," meaning
they would become human as they became French.* Other coloniz-
ing nations shared the assumption that Christianity and Kuropean
cultural traditions wore the cornerstones of a "civilized" and "hu-
man" life.

Tenet 3: Civilization Requires Subordination of Native
Communities, Which May Be Achieved by Resettlement
of Native People.

Everywhere in the colonial world, the tenets of civility and conver-
sion were explicitly linked to power/' One tried-and-true method
used by all colonial nations to assert power has been the relocation
and resettlement of Indigenous communities. Spanish rcduccioncs
and cnco/nicndoy, French reductions', British praying towns; and
American boarding schools, reservations, colonies, and homesteads
are all examples of the colonial compulsion to radically restructure
and control American Indian communities. In 1603, the secular
political leader in Acadia was instructed in his duty:

To seek to lead the (Native 1 nations thereof to the profession of
the Christian faith, to civility of manners, an ordered life . . .
and finally their recognition of and submission to the authority
and domination of the Crown of France. 10

Submission to authority and domination of colonial power were at
the crux of the colonial encounter between American Indians and
European Americans. Control is the key word here; the creation of
these new communities was all about imposing military, political,
economic, and social power. Spain, Great Britain, France, and the
United States were each intent on the conquest of a continent, and
the extension of power over Native nations was couched in the
rhetoric of civilization versus savagery.

According to the colonizers, civilized communities were clustered
around an urban center. The scale varied from hamlet to city, but
social groups were congregated, bounded, and tied to the soil indi-
rectly through service to a landlord (as in the case of feudalism) or
directly through patented ownership (as in the case of slavery)
Sarat/c communities, on the other hand, were said to comprise
nomadic roamers rather than landowners, possibly undeserving of
the term community at all. This rhetorical context made it necessary
to stereotype all American Indians as nomadic wanderers, thinly
scattered across (but not really owners of) the landscape, despite
abundant evidence to the contrary. When faced with the reality of
settled Indian village life, colonizers frequently— although not uni-
versally-turned to practices of resettlement to impose political,
civil, and religious jurisdiction.

Thl Unn a|, :'^’i H-‘U)i/y i>r Amu's, an Ei ■ . >u

One early exception to resettlement occurred on the northern
frontiers of New Spain" in the Pueblo communities of modern-day
Arizona and New Mexico. In this early era of European colonization,
from the arrival of Juan de Onate’s expedition to New Mexico in
1598 to the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, resettlement of sedentary Native
communities was not a primary goal, but the assertion ot colonial
control was essential. The substantial Pueblo villages were not relo-
cated, but Spanish institutions of religious and political control were
superimposed. Catholic churches were built on the foundations of
Pueblo ceremonial buildings, called kii 'ns, and Spanish political
offices were delegated to Pueblo men. 1 * After nearly a century of
often brutal Spanish rule, in 1680, the Pueblos and other Native
people of the area united to push the Spanish back to Id Paso, Texas.
Twelve years later, the Spanish reasserted their jurisdiction but
worked out a less punitive accommodation with Pueblo groups, by
comparison in the late 1700s, the Spanish launched their conquest of
Alta California (which included territories within southern and cen-
tral modern-day California) and implemented a more aggressive
resettlement and education program.

The encorniendo— a feudal arrangement allowing little freedom to
. subjugated Indian residents— was the prevalent institution for reset-
tling and reorganizing Native people in Old Mexico. In Alta Califor-
nia, however, the mission — flanked by the military force of the presidio
(a garrison of soldiers) and the civic model of the pueblo or farm
community— became the preeminent colonizing institution. Van Well,
Catholic historian of the church's educational role in the American
Southwest, described the mission as “a community or village into
which the missionaries gathered their concerts j emphasis added |
or prospective converts . . . trained [them] in the rudiments of
civilized living . . . taught Christian doctrine ... at times even
introduced [the Indiansl to elements of reading (and | writing." Rob-
ert Jackson and native Californian scholar Edward Castillo label the
missions' goals as acculturation and the production of a disciplined
I ndian labor force to serve the Spanish. These goals were achieved by
gathering Native people under the control of Spanish priests, hacked
by the military power of the presidios. The Spanish had first allowed
Native Californian families to live in traditional dwellings within the
missions but eventually replaced these structures with “permanent
adolu* housing units . . . j that | afforded a greater degree of control

over the converts, which was enhanced by the building of walls to
surround the villages.” 11 As a result. Native Californians were housed
in overcrowded, unsanitary barracks that separated men from women,
parents from children, and "wild” from “mission” Indians. Mission
architecture reinforced colonial control.

Spanish and French church doctrine dictated reducing “wild"
Indians from states of unfettered and chaotic freedom to settled,
organized, and civilized lives. Tins explains the terminology applied
to resettled communities: rcduccioncs in New Spain and reductions
in New France, deductions had first been established under French
colonial direction in Central and South America. They wore adopted
in New France as well as a way to implement one cornerstone of
EeJeune's plan to civilize the Natives in present-day Canada. His
plan had four parts: (1) learn the Native language, 11 (2) establish
educational seminaries for children, (3) build hospitals, and (J)
encourage Native people to live sedentary lives. The .Jesuits founded
the settlement of Sillerv in 1637, but warfare and disease erased it
within two decades. The Jesuits learned from the Sillerv experiment
that too-dosc proximity to European settlements was not healthy
(because of the transmission of epidemic diseases), so in 1667, they
established the segregated community of Prairie de la Magdelaine
(also known as Kentake).

Reductions were important symbols of the educational ideology
of the French, but in reality, they were never as numerous or as
successful as the colonial powers might have wished. 'Hu* reductions
were, howe\er. effective foci for French power and authority: resi-
dents were closely supervised, egress was restricted, every weekday
was regimented into periods of prayer, and every Sunday witnessed
a constant round of se rv ices, processions, and instructions.

In New England. English Protestant groups such as the religiously
and culturally aggressive Puritans and separatist Pilgrims did not
expend as much effort on missionary endeavors as the Catholic
nations, but a few individuals devoted themselves to the conversion
of local Native communities. John Eliot. Massachusetts Hay Colony
minister known as “Apostle to the !udians,” was dedicated to reset-
tling Native eotncrt.s into praying toicns. where they were isolated
from Native religious beliefs and practices. To he eligible for reli-
gious instruction, the towns had to subject themselves to thegosem-
menl of Massachusetts, placing them under the authority of English

Tm UNNAti'V'-i i < I AMi’fi- A f i Im ' k '‘t'i El i*» A! * *j

military officers, liliot's proselytizing targeted Native communities
already weakened by epidemic diseases and nearby dominating co-
lonial settlements. Kliot was not alone. On Martha's Vineyard, Tho-
mas Mayhew, Jr. and Thomas Mayhew, Sr. were remarkably suc-
cessful in accomplishing what William Simmons characterizes as
“deep and rapid voluntary* change to colonial ideology." There was
no thought given, however, to integrating Knglish and Native con-
gregations; the praying towns were conceived as “similar to those of
the Knglish, subordinate to them, and geographically separate." 1,
Simmons concludes that “a shift in authority in favor of the Knglish"
was a necessary prerequisite to conversion itself. 1 "

The praying towns were ultimately doomed. At their high point in
1674. some 16 towns housed approximately 1,100 people (perhaps 10
percent of the local Native population at the time), but the general
hysteria and anti-Indian sentiments during King Philip’s War (1675-
1676) conspired against their perpetuation. During the war, Chris-
tian Indians in Boston were ordered into concentration camps on
Deer Island "for their own protection.*' and they never successfully
rebuilt their Christian community. Allegiance of Christian Indians
was instrumental to the Knglish victory, but after the war, Knglish
authorities ignored that loyalty. Only four of the praying towns were
rebuilt, and all had disappeared by the early 1700s. Ironically, Kliot's
plan, and the strategy of resettlement to create new religious and
political allegiances, was fairly successful. Kven after their shabby
treatment by the Knglish during and after King Philip's War. almost
half of the converts remained faithful to Christianity. 1 '

The seeming paradox of Kuropean Americans unable, or unwill-
ing, to recognize civilization when they encountered it in the nucle-
ated village life of New Kngland Algouquians, Iroquoians in New
France, or Southwestern Pueblos is no paradox at all if we push aside
the curtain of rhetoric and focus on the issue of power. Iroquois
longhouses. New Kngland villages. Alta California communities, and
Pueblo towns were self-governing entities whose existences were
perceived as threatening to Kuropean American politics. To achieve
civilized living, colonizers believed Native people had to be removed
from Native community life and integrated into new communities
under Kuropean American control. Sometimes, this created seeming
contradictions within the civilization rhetoric. In 1806. for example,
the Society of f riends of Pennsylvania and New .Jersey reported

1 1 t .

positively on their progress in civilizing the Seneca. The Friends
enthusiastically reported that Indians had begun to site individual
houses along river courses rather than following their former habit
of "crowding together in villages." 1 *

The reason Indian villages were considered bad while American
villages were deemed good had to do with power over social life.
Indians in tribal villages were perceived as shackled by the commu-
nal tribal bond, while those in disaggregated homesteads were seen
as free individuals within the liberal American nation. The impetus
to detribalize Indian individuals and integrate them into the lower
economic strata of the U.S. economy— as self-supporting rural farm-
ing families or, in the case of individuals, as domestic sonants,
manual laborers, agricultural workers, or low-skilled tradesmen—
was fueled by the desire to alienate tribal people from large commu-
nal land bases.

By the l8()()s the movement to relocate and resettle Indian people
had established reservations across the West, small rancherias in
California, “model homes" and “homesteads" on boarding school
grounds and reservation allotments, and model “colonies" in U.S.
Indian Territory and Canada. 1 ,t ' At Hampton Institute in the t880s.-‘'
anthropologist Alice Fletcher instigated the “model family” or “model
home" project, designed to link the domestic transformations
achieved in boarding schools to Indian family life back home on
reservations. Model homes were built at Hampton for several young
Indian couples, mostly from the Omaha reservation. Inspired by
Fletcher, the Womens National Indian Association (WNIA), a na-
tional reform group of non-Nalivc women, established a Home Build-
ing and Loan Committee to assist boarding school graduates to
achieve “Anieriean-style housing.” From 1884 to 1888, WNIA helped
build 30 to 40 homes, some at Hampton, some on the Omaha
reserve, and some in Alaskan villages. ' 1

In several experiments across the West, the Bureau of Indian
Affairs (BIA) established demonstration communities, or colonies of
young “progressive" Indians, usually recruited from among recent
boarding school graduates. In the colonies— such as Seger Colony in
Oklahoma or the “Progressive Colony" established by 1918 near
Sacaton. Arizona (southeast of present-dav Phoenix), on the Pima
reservation— young adults carried out what they had practiced in the
schools, where thev had made model furniture and model clothes

T‘tt UNMAU VAt H-jVi&t Aui !,'i, AN lN> El v J«' A% :f.

and learned to care for baby doll “families." In the 1930s, using funds
from the federal Subsistence Homesteads program, a small model
community was built on the grounds of Cliiloeeo Indian Agricultural
School in Oklahoma. The plan was to build “just small, inexpensive
homes" that graduates could buy on a 30-year plan, although the
land would remain in government ownership. During the New Deal
era, the BIA also established “rehabilitation communities" connected
to adult education programs. Red Shirt Tabic on the Pine Ridge
reservation and Grass Mountain on the Rosebud reservation were
well-known rehabilitation communities."

In 1830, a full century earlier, Canada had embarked on a similar
experiment. Chippewas were “settled" at Coldwater and bake Simcoe
Narrows. A road was built between the two settlements, land was
cleared for farming, and administrators hoped “White farmers and
skilled workers" could be found to build homes for the Indians, who
would work as farmers and carters. Chippewas and their White
neighbors were equally unimpressed by the idea, and the experiment
failed; Coldwater had been abandoned by 1837."

“Model’' communities created in Canada and the United States
were primarily models of social surveillance and control. At several
Canadian communities, the Tsimshian “model Victorian village" at
Metlakatla (present-day Alaska), and in the Progressive Colony near
Saeaton, Arizona, daily activities were rigidly scheduled, and the
inhabitants were subject to cabin-to-cabin inspections." Pedagogi-
cal methods of discipline, surveillance, time scheduling, and control
were also implemented in missions, schools, and reservations. These
methods were designed to produce economically independent work-
ers so thoroughly saturated in the ideology of Indian inferiority they
would willingly accept places in society that the larger society de-
fined as appropriate to their needs and abilities.

Tenet 4: Civilization Requires Special Pedagogical
Practices to Overcome Presumed Deficiencies in Indian
Children and Adults.

The .Jesuits in New France had been directed to introduce manual
labor into Indian education as early as 1665. Fatly southwestern
tJ.S. and California missions were described by Van Well as huge,
self-supporting agricultural and industrial schools. The Franciscan

fathers in the California missions classified their converts not by
intelligence, character, or spirituality hut by their ability to work/'’
Work, manual labor, vocational training— all refer to the essential
perceived need to train Native Americans in bard labor.

Spanish missions served as early models for the American reli-
gious and federal boarding schools of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. American boarding schools, in turn, were the models
adopted in Canada after the 1879 Darin Report , commissioned by
the Canadian government. Basic training in agricultural and domes-
tic arts was thought to be fundamental to the civilizing process, and
most educational systems required more student labor in tick's,
laundries, and shops than intellectual application in the classroom.
Students were immersed in a life of labor, but their training was
carefully designed not to create laborers who would compete eco-
nomically against the privileged classes. Canadian education policy
in 1910 stipulated that residential school curricula should “fit the
Indian for civilized life in his own environment (emphasis added I.”
which meant stressing simplicity and practicality. First Nations people
in Saskatchewan responded the next year by requesting that the
Superintendent of Indian Affairs provide for schools that gave “more
emphasis to classwork, and less to farming.”

Boarding and residential schools elevated manual labor and hard
work to a pedestal as effective civilizing practices; cleanliness and
orderliness were equally privileged pedagogical instruments of cul-
tural transformation, 'file discipline of orderliness imposed the ut-
most uniformity of appearance on Native students. Uniforms, mis-
sion- or government-issued clothing, and regulation haircuts were
essential markers of the “remaking” process in action. In addition to
transforming the outward appearance of students and their work
habits, emotionally charged pedagogical instruments such as liturgi-
cal music, popular songs and lullabies, ceremonies, dramas, and
pageants were utilized to help reshape emotional expression, emo-
tional life, and affective connections to culture and society.

In l. r >29 Franciscans established the St. John bateran school to
educate Mestizo children in Mexico City. Students wore distinctive
uniforms, helped with the necessary labor, were subjected to a disci-
pline of silence, and were under constant supervision, even through
the night as they slept in their dormitories. Similarly, the “patio
schools” for Mexican girls enforced strict uniformity of dress. A

r i '

Unv-i I’t^i H is I?/ '■*• El */■ *\ x ^ <

contemporary observer noted there did “not exist a difference among
them, even as regards a ribbon." ' -

'Phis emphasis on uniformity and regimented discipline lasted
four and one-half centuries as educational institutions strove to
reshape Native individuals and societies. All American mission and
federal boarding schools, from their inception until World War II,
utilized the disciplines of military regimentation and uniformity to
train students in subservience and conformity. Students at Chilocco
Indian Agricultural School, one of the large off- reservation boarding
schools, rose at dawn to march in close order drill; clad in govern-
ment-issue GI uniforms, they carried unloaded Knfield rifles and
executed precise drill patterns in response to the orders of student
officers. Girls at Chilocco were punished if they refused the Gl shoes,
which thev derisively called “bullhides," and attempted to wear shoes
sent from home— shoes with “uonregulation laces or a patch of gray
“color.’ vs

Vet other parts of the process of colonial education focused on
transforming emotional expression and connections to Native cer-
emonial and social life. Kducators through the ages have recognized
the strength and endurance of emotional bonds to cultural phenom-
ena formed early in life and reinforced through ritual, pageantry,
theater, song, music, and dance. Sixteenth-century Franciscan schools
in Mexico introduced Catholic social activities, fiestas, religious dra-
mas, and music to provide “an emotional overtone to many of the
drab and more repetitious drill methods." The priests recognized
that the festive pageants and tableaux of Catholicism psychologically
engaged potential converts “through active sensation and emotional
association with the new order.”’**

Catholic missionaries in New Franco relied on lurid pictures of
heaven and hell as well as the highly developed material culture of
Catholic piety: rosaries, medals, statues, colored beads offered as
prizes lor correct rote memorization, colored sticks used to tally sins,
and the crosses, bells, and candles of the church. One fervent pros-
elvti/er at Onondaga “made up for the lack of a church hell by
running through the village before service calling out Fire! Fire!
F.ver burning hellfirc! Given the high rates of Native mortality due
to infectious epidemic crowd diseases such as measles, smallpox,
and influenza (sometimes introduced by the missionaries them-
selves), it is not surprising that death and the afterlife preoccupied

Native peoples as well as the priests. One can only imagine the
response of Native communities to the threat "Fire! Fire! Ever burn-
ing hell fire!"* 0

One Canadian missionary thought the Natives tended to be “sad"
by nature so he set spiritual songs to “various joyful tunes" to lift
their spirits. Similarly, the fathers in Alta California often described
“a melancholy attitude among many converts.” The Natives' general
depression in the face of forced labor, gender segregation, and high
death rates (particularly among infants, women, and children) should
not seem surprising to us, but it was remarked upon by European
contemporaries. Ludovik Choris, illustrator on the Russian expedi-
tion to California ( 1815-1818) led by Otto von Kotzebue, wrote of the
Costanoan and Coast Miwok neophytes he sketched at the San Fran-
cisco mission, “I have never seen one smile; I have never seen one
look one in the eye.""

Father Jean Pierron labored in the mission fields among the
Mohawk in New France. Pierron illustrated cards with the Christian
mysteries and invented a game called “Point to Point," which illus-
trated human life from “the point of birth to the point of Eternity."
Pierron endorsed the use of brightly colored, garish, even lurid
visual aids such as “tear-inspiring images of the torments of hell and
purgatory" because, in his words, “one must begin by touching their
hearts, before he can convince their minds." More recently, alumni
of the Blue Quills Residential School in Alberta. Canada, recalled
that the pictorial catechism used in the 1980s vividly depicted two
roads. One road led up to heaven and was traveled only by Whites;
the lower road to hell was populated entirely by Indians . lJ

Hearts could be touched/however, without necessarily persuad-
ing minds to change. Sometimes Indian students interpreted or
transformed festive occasions on their own terms. Jacqueline Grosko
proposes that in Saskatchewan and British Columbia, the “brass
bands, sports teams and school spirit" of the Catholic schools "laid
the foundation for such present-day [Native 1 1 cultural institutions"
as the powwow and War Dance Festival. “

In the praying towns of New England, potential converts to Puri-
tan Christianity had to he accepted into a congregation according to
established standards set by, but not necessarily practiced by, En-
glish congregations. Puritans eschewed emotionally expressive reli-
gious behavior: they viewed prophets of more “enthusiastic" Chris-

t . f ■

tian denominations as instruments of the devil. Native inhabitants
of praying towns such as Natick, Massachusetts, however, were
compelled to demonstrate all the symptoms of emotional break-
down to be judged authentic converts. Even by contemporary En-
glish descriptions, New England natives were “well known not to be
much subject to tears," but John Eliot wrote that the continuous
cycle of weeping and confessions at Natick gave him “greater hope of
great hcartbreakings." One could argue that Eliot s “great
hcartbreakings" were the overt physical signs of the inner psycho-
logical transformations achieved through brainwashing, cultural at-
tack, and epidemic mortality. Natick’s citizens went through more
than a half-dozen tear-filled, public confessional traumas before the
congregation was approved. 1 ' 1

In the federal boarding schools of the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, federal staff stcreotypically expected Indian students to
display a certain stoicism, and educators bent their efforts toward
instilling “appropriate" forms of emotional expression. The stoicism-
in public at least— should perhaps come as no surprise. Children
found themselves in difficult, otten hostile circumstances, whcio
their own language, religion, culture, behavior, and individualism
were under constant, systematic attack. In that kind of setting, who
would admit to uncertainty or weakness before the enemy? Personal
narratives and autobiographical accounts of boarding school life arc
full of references, however, to tears shed in private, often in bed at
night. * Even if the cause was “only" homesickness, emotions were
better kept to oneself.

Federal educators turned to stereotypes of Indian emotional and
physical “deficiencies” to explain student behavior and to justify
federal reshaping of Indian emotional life and expression. In a 1900
newspaper interview, federal Superintendent ot Indian Schools
Estelle Reel said this about Indian children under her charge:

[The Indian child's] face is without that complete development
of nerve and muscle which gives character to expressive fea-
tures; his face seems stolid because it is without free expres-
sion, and at the same time his mind remains measurably stolid
because of the very absence of mechanism for its own expres-

sion.

sidering in this analysis of what is natural and what is culturally
constructed. It is undeniably true that linguistic and social rules
governing language use, and the interplay between spoken language
and silence, differ among Native languages and between Native
languages and English. However, wo should consider the role that
colonial education may have played in creating a social realitv that
has fed the stereotype of silence and stoicism. As mentioned earlier.
Mestizo students at the St. John Lateran school in the 1530s wore
distinctive uniforms, helped with work to sustain the school, and
were kept under surveillance night and day. They were also subject
to a discipline of silence. Girls at the associated patio schools were
taught good (Spanish) manners and domestic skills (such as sewing
and needlework to decorate the church), clothed in uniform dresses,
kept occupied at all times, and uplifted through “.svAvftrand prayer."’'
Imposed silence is as much a part of nearly five centuries of
colonial education as uniforms, manual labor, and relocation. Si-
lence has been an integral part of the discipline, regimentation, and
internal transformation demanded of Indian children by colonial
educators. It we hope to understand contemporary classrooms and
contemporary Indian learners, we must examine Native cultures
and knowledge bases, including rules governing language use and
silence use. We must also examine the historic legacies of colonial
education that may have created or contributed to ideas of Indian
“silence.” This is only one example of a more complex consideration
of colonial education and its legacy of assumptions, which today are
accepted, without question, as natural.

Conclusion

What are some of the natural truths specific to colonial educa-
tion? This chapter examined lour tenets common to colonial educa-
tion over the centuries:

1. Native Americans were savages who had to he civi-
lized. This meant providing instruction in all aspects of a European
American lifestyle. The markers of a civilized life included learning a
new language (Spanish, French, or English) and adopting domestic
customs (such as dress, hairstyle, and family structure) and eco-
nomic technologies (such as architecture, foods, agricultural meth-
ods, trades, eratts. and so on) of The colonial nation.

T--i Hv < l Avt n lr<: :an £n^ a not. 1

2. Civilization required Christianization. I he specific de
nominations have varied from nation to nation and by region, but
Catholics, Baptists, Moravians, Mennonites, Quakers, and Mormons
were prominent in the vast proselytizing mission.

3. Native communities should be politically and legally
subordinate to the nation siate, even if it means relocating
them. Examples include the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
resettlement of Native peoples in New England into Puritan praying
towns; the colonial resettlement of Native nations of New France
into reductions and of New Spain into missions or rcduccioncs\ the
eighteenth- and nineteenth-century resettlement of Native Ameri-
cans onto reservations and rancherias; the resettlement of Nati\e
children into mission, manual labor, residential, and boaiding
schools; and the relocation of Indian workers and families into cities
in the 1950s and 1960s. All of these new settings for Native people
have been under the direct political control and legal jurisdiction of
the colonizing nations.

4. Specific pedagogical methods were needed to over-
come deficits in mental, moral, and physical characteris-
tics. These methods typically included a military model of mass
regimentation, authoritarian discipline, strict gender segregation,
an emphasis on manual labor, avoidance of higher academic or
professional training, rote memorization, and drill in desired physi-
cal and emotional habits.

Because these tenets are so deeply rooted in European philosophy
and practice, so widely shared by colonial nations, and so enduring
over time, they have been accepted uncritically by generations as
-natural facts." m The first two tenets concerning civilization and
Christianization may sound obsolete— or, at least, politically incor-
rect. The modern reader may wonder why it is necessary to bother
with these dusty old ideas in a volume dedicated to contemporary
research and practice in Indian education. Rephrasing these ideas in
more contemporary terms makes clear that such ideas arc still with
us: Instead of saving “Indians must he civilized," we might say
“Native Americans have been victims ot backwardness, isolation,
and discrimination, and must be brought into the American main-
stream." As American society becomes more secular, the dismissal ol
Native spirituality continues. Instead of saying “Indians must he-

K. Ts.A.VNA Li MAV. A-V*'

come Christians/’ substitute “Native Americans must be welcomed
and integrated into an American way of life that makes decisions
based on science, not superstition.”

The third tenet needs no rephrasing at all to sound current: Native
communities should be politically and legally subordinate to the
larger nation state. In evaluating the currency of this tenet, listen to
the antitreaty activists who believe treaties are not constitutional
documents but mere historic relics conferring undeserved rights on
a select few. They do not support tribal sovereignty, self-govern-
ment, self-determination, or self-education. Listen also to the pro-
ponents of “English only” initiatives, who believe the survival of
Indigenous languages (along with Spanish) poses a threat to the
moral and cultural fabric of the United States. Listen to the Supreme
Court, a body deeply threatened by the survival of Native religious
beliefs and practices, as evidenced in recent decisions denying reli-
gious freedom protections / 10 It seems clear that much of America
still believes American Indians must he subordinate peoples and
polities. 1 ”

Lastly, the tenet calling for a special pedagogy for Indian learners
has its contemporary guises as well. Do people believe that American
Indian children (or the children of other ethnic groups) require
special pedagogical methods to learn because those childi en possess
peculiar traits or insufficiencies? Listen to recommendations of re-
formers responding to the pedagogical challenges posed by so-called
disadvantaged populations: they require vocational education or
manual training, they're visual or right-brain learners, they’re not
verbal, they’re culturally deprived, they don't think abstractly, and
the list goes on.”

The enduring tenacity of these four tenets prompted the analysis
in this chapter; we should not underestimate the power these propo-
sitions still wield in shaping popular thought and influencing public
policy about Native Americans.’- There is a historic connection— a
family tree— that leads from the first and second tenets to the third
and fourth. The legacy of these notions is still with us today.

I o recognize and resist the same old ideas in new forms, we need
to describe the ideas, articulate their connections, and make clear
how they have been implemented in different times and places. We
need to map the similarities between old ideas and new so we can
judge for ourselves whether the new are really now, or whether old

T»a Unnaji^ai Hv\a. o» A>.*:'< v as* Indian Aisf'\

ideas are still being accepted as natural facts. The colonial education
of American Indians continues today. The four tenets discussed here
still permeate textbooks and readers in many public, private, and
parochial schools.

While some classrooms are deeply implicated in the continuation
of colonial education, in other places, many Native children now
have access to community schools that integrate Native culture,
language, and curriculum . 43 Pedagogical practices, curricula, and
teachers have changed significantly in recent decades, but the insidi-
ous legacy of colonial education has not been vanquished yet. It
stretches far beyond classrooms and schools. Stereotypes, false-
hoods, and plain ignorance permeate television programming; mov-
ies; romance paperbacks and their provocative covers; sports teams
and their mascots; advertising copy, images, and trademarks; coun-
try-and- western songs; and toys and dolls — all the flotsam and jet-
sam of American popular culture.

The stereotypes of Native America may seem inescapable, but
they are not inevitable. As long as stereotypical ideas are accepted as
natural facts, they will never be scrutinized, analyzed, or revised.
They will continue to be dominating influences in the training of
young minds. Native and non-Native alike. Native and non-Native
educators have an opportunity and responsibility to scrutinize, ana-
lyze, and revise the natural truths and the pedagogical theory and
practice they implement every day. Searching for the legacies of
colonial education is one place to begin.

Notes

1. K.Tsianina Lomawaima (Creek) is a faculty member of the University
of Arizona American Indian Studies Program. She would like to thank her
colleagues at the University of Arizona, Teresa McCarty, .lay Stauss, and David
Wilkins; Tom Biolsi of Portland Stale; and the anonymous reviewers of this
volume for their careful and critical readings of this essay. She also is indebted
to Teresa McCarty for assistance with references to contemporary research on
language, literacy, and curriculum.

2. Scholars currently agree Native American populations suffered mor-
tality rates of 90-9S percent due to epidemic diseases introduced by Kumpean,
African, and Asian populations. Scholars do not agree on pre-1492 Native
population numbers: estimates range from 9()(),()0() to 1H million. For de-
tailed debates over population counts and the impact of 'diseases, see Dohyns,
Their A 'timber then me Thinned', McNeill, P/a<jucs and Peoples Snipp.

K 1

American Indiana Thornton, American Indian Holocaust', and Verano and
Ubelaker, Disease and Demography. For associated ecological changes, see
Cronon. Changes in the Land.

3. Weatherford, Indian (Hi ’crs details examples of how Native American
technologies and concepts in agriculture, cuisine, government, architecture,
etc. have impacted the world. See Blackburn and Anderson. Before the
l \ 'i/dcrncssfor Native Californian strategies of land use and resource manage-
ment that entailed extensive human manipulation ot environments. See
Nabhan. I:ndu ring Seeds for advanced cultural technologies in the American
Southwest.

4. The reassert ion of sovereignty in self-education has been facilitated by
congressional legislation: the Econondc Opportunity Act ot 1964 (Public l .aw
88-452). which established the Office of Kconomic Opportunity lOKOj and
led to Head Start, Upward Bound.. lob Corps, Volunteers in Service to America
1 VISTA | . and Indian Community Action Programs such as the Rough Rock
Demonstration School. Navajo Nation (1966): Elementary and Secondary
Education Act ai 1965 ( KSKA j ( Public Law 89-10); Title !. which amended the
KSKA to include Bureau of Indian Affairs ( HI A) schools; Indian Education Act
of 1972 (Public Law 92-318. Title IV); 19"5 Indian Self-Determination and
Education Assistance Act (Public Law 93-638): creation of the American
Indian Policy Review Commission in 1975 (Public’ Law 93-580): and 1990
Xatirc American Languages Act (Public Law 101-47“, Title I). The
reassert ion of sovereignty has also been lacilitated by presidential e\ceuti\e
orders such as President. Memorandum, “Government-to-Government Rela-

tions with Tribal Governments.” Fora rt

•view of research on Indian education

in the twentieth century, see Lomawaima, “Kducating Native Americans.

5. Much of American education hasbeen built on a foundation of religious
worldview, particularly nineteenth-century Protestantism. SetKTemin, tra-
ditions of American Education for a description of the moral force of Protes-
tantism at the turn of the twentieth century. ( The author is indebted to an
anonymous reviewer for this citation. ) Of course, many contemporary Chris-
tians believe Christianity and civilization are still inextricably linked. Some
sectors continue to assert that deeply rooted Kuropean American cultural
values, such as the patriarchal family, are essential to Christianity and to
sustaining the ‘ family values” of a civilized nation.

For more on missionary education ol Native American children, see
Barr, “Pottawatomie Baptist Manual Labor Training School”; Neely, “Quaker
F.ra of Cherokee Indian Kducation”: and Soulhwick. “Kducating the Mind."

6. In the late 1920s and early 1930s federal schools went through a reform
process initiated by a detailed report on the Office of Indian Affairs known as
the Meriam Report, after Lewis Meriam. leader of the research team. Report
published by the Institute for Government Research (see bihliographv). which
later became the Brookings Institution.

John Collier. Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1933 to 1945. insti-
tuted a radical change in federal Indian education policy. He supported the
l ight of Native people to practice their own religions and instructed federal
emploNces no longer to harass or prosecute Indians for their religious beliefs
and practices. See Philip. John ( oilier s ( 'rusatfc for Indian Deform.

• i i

Thf Unnaiukai Hisiojn of Amihican Indian EouC auon

7 . Armstrong, Indian Question, 10. For excellent surveys ot this philo-
sophical and ideological genealogy, see Berkhofer, White Mans Indian ;
Dickason. Myth of the Savage; Jennings. Invasion uj America-. Pearce.
Sat w/ism and Civilization', and Takaki, A Different Mirror.

For more specific details on western Kuropean notions of the wilderness
and the savagery it harbored, see Bartra. Wild Men in the Looking (da. s.s and
Bern hei mer , l \ T ild Men in the Middle Ages.

8 . Van Well, Educational Aspects of the Missions, 1: Dickason. Mi/thoJ
the Savage. 25 L 274.

9 . New France included the lands controlled by France in North America
before 1768. It commonly refers to France's holdings in southcentral Canada
and parts of what is now the northeastern United States, east and south ot the

Great Lakes.

10 . .laenen, “Kducation for Franeization," 46 .

11. New Spain, from 1521-1821, included territory now in the southwest-
ern United States, Florida, Texas, Mexico. Central America north of Panama,
the West Indies, and the Philippines.

12. See Sando, Pueblo Motions.

12. Van Well, Educational Aspects of the Missions. 22; Jackson and
Castillo. Indians. Franciscans, and Spanish Coloni/.ation , 82. See also
Findlay. “Klusive Institution" and Castillo, Satan* American Perspectives.

14. The purpose of learning the Native language was to facilitate the
conversion and assimilation process; everyone involved in the civilization
project believed in the ultimate transition to the French language. As Samuel
Champlain commented, "With the French language they ( Native peoples { may
also acquire a French heart and spirit." quoted in .laenen. "Kducation for
Franci/.ation," 46.

15. Jennings. Invasion of America. 252; Simmons, Comeision itom
Indian to Puritan." 215, 214-

16. In May 1677 the Massachusetts General Court restricted all Indians
within the colonv’s jurisdiction to four plantations: Natick. Punknpang.
Hassaniincsit, and Wamesit. In 1681 the four were reduced to three; Indians
found outside these "reservations" were sent to "the I louse ot C di rections or
Prison." quoted in Kawashima. Puritan Justice and the Indian. 29.

See S/asz, Indian Education in the American C 'atonies \' or more details
on F.nglish and federal colonial Indian education in New Kngland. For infor-
mation about the mission efforts of John Flint, the Mayhews, and others, see
Kawashima, Puritan Justice and the Indian. Simmons, ‘ Conversion from
Indian to Puritan"; Konda,“'We Are Well as We Are ;and Salisbury, Manitou
and Providence.

p See Bowden. American Indians and Christian Missions tor back-
ground on the praying towns.

18. Society of Friends of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. A Sketch. 10.

19. Some colonies were established more for public relations than foi
transforming Indians. In the early 1900s the wcll-publici/cd File Hills Coloin

23 .

L ’W. a.v/-

in southern Saskatchewan was a showpiece for Canadian and international
visitors; other Indians “were neither allowed to tour through or visit individu-
ally," quoted in Carter. “Demonstrating Success," d.

20. Hampton Institute was founded in Virginia after the Civil War by
General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, son of New Kngland missionaries to
I lawaii. The normal school was designed to educate freed African Americans
as teachers lor Black children in the South; Hampton was founded on a
premise of racial hierarchy. Its students were inculcated with an ideology of
White superiority and the “proper" place of the Black race as laborers in the
Southern economy. Hampton also educated Indian children fora period in the
late IBOOS. For more on Hampton, see Hultgren and Molin, To Load ami to
Am rand Lindsey, Indians at Hampton institute.

21. Matties. Helen Hunt Jackson* id l.

22. The author is grateful to Thomas Biolsi for bringing these communi-
ties to her attention. Fo»*more information, see Biolsi. Oraani/.inq the f.akota
anti Lomawaima. “Sha ks. Huts, Coops and Wickiups."

23. Wilson, "No Blanket to Be Worn in School’," 70.

24- Metlakatla, in British Columbia, was created in 1862 and strictly
controlled by missionary William Duncan. In 1891 the U.S. Congress estah-
lished the community of Metlakatla in southeastern Alaska forTsimshian who
had migrated from British Columbia, cited in Prucha. (I rent Father* 1129.

25. .Jackson and C astillo, indians. Franeiseans. and S/>anish C 'oloniza-
tion . Id.

26. Barman, Hebert, and McCaskill, Indian Fdueution in Canada , 8-9.

27. Barth. “Franciscan Education," 82. 102.

28. The first federal off-reservation boarding school was established in
1879 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, under the command of Army officer Richard
Henry Pratt. Chilocco, Haskell Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, and Genoa
Indian School in Nebraska were established in 1884. Bv the turn of the
century, some 25 .schools had been constructed. A few, such as Chcmawa in
Salem, Oregon, and Sherman Institute in Riverside, California, remain open
today as high schools. I laskell, now known as 1 laskcll Indian Nations Univer-
sity, is the only federally run college for American Indians. For histories of
hoarding schools and analyses of the impacts on Indian lives and communi-
ties. see Adams. Fdueatian far Fvtinetion; Child. Hoarding Sehooi Seasons:
Child and Lomawaima, Boarding School Kducation"; Coleman. .-{mi’riean
Indian C liildren at Sehooi: Haig-Brown, Resistanee and Renewal: Hultgren
and Molin, To i \ead and to Serve: liver, One House. One Voice. One Heart:
Lindsey, indians at Hampton Institute: Lomawaima. “Domesticity in the
Federal Indian Schools”; Lomawaima. They Coiled It Prairie Lipid:
Lomawaima, “Educating Native Americans"; Lomawaima. "Estelle Reel";
Lomawaima. "Shacks. I hits. Coops and Wickiups"; and Mclietli, Ftlmiefden
tity.

29. Bat ih, 1‘t.iiicisean Lduculiou, 192-194. See also Kggan, “Instruction
and Affect."

do. Grunt. Moon of Wintertime* d4. 50.

r.rAT ah All Ar;i r

Tui Un:i^i.«a« Av-tCMi Indian Eu-j=.-^ : < «■:

31. [bid., 62; Jackson and Castillo, Indians. Franciscans, and Spanish
Colonization . 52, 68-69.

32. Grant, Moon of Wintertime. 51; Jaenen, "Education tor
Francization," 48. See also Persson, “Changing Experience.”

33. Gresko, "Creating Little Dominions," 88-89.

34. Salisbury, “Red Puritans," 16.

35. See La Fleselie, Middle Fire, Johnston, Indian School Pays', and
Lomawaima. They Called It Prairie Lig hi.

36. Lomawaima, "Estelle Reel," 14.

37. Barth, * Franciscan Education," 82. 102. For discussions of how Native
communities used silence and how communicative rules of Native language
differ from English, see Philips. “Participant Structures"; Dumont, “Learning
English”; and Basso, Western Apache Language and Culture .

38. Wilkins. American Indian Sovereignty, 1. Wilkins analyzes the ac-
ceptance of culturally based assumptions in the context of critical legal theory.
He characterizes natural facts as “reification,’ or a “fallacy of misplaced
concreteness."

39. Sec the decisions in Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective
Association , 485 U.S. 439 (1988) and Employment Division, Dept, of Human
Resources v. Smith , 494 U.S. 872 (1990), which deny First Amendment
religious freedom protection to American Indian religions.

40. See Williams and Neubrech, Indian Treaties for the antitreaty view;
see Whaley and Bresette. I \ \ allege Warriors f or an analysis of the treaty rights
controversy in Wisconsin. (The* author is grateful to Dave Wilkins for bringing
this reference to her attention). See also Baron, English-Only Question ;
Crawford, Hold Your Tongue Daniels. Not Only English', Gallegos, English -
Our Official Language?, and Piatt. Only English?

41. See Lomawaima, “Educating Native Americans.”

42. A number of important histories of colonial education ot I ndians and
federal Indian policy do not analyze events occurring after the 1930s or 1940s.
Collectively, the literature suggests we are in a postcolonial period, but this
chapter aims to question that assumption. Books that stop at or near the 1930s
include Adams, Education for Extinction', Child, Hoarding School Seasons'.
Coleman. American Indian Children at School', I loxie, A Final Promise and
Lomawaima, They Called It Prairie Light. Exceptions include DeJong, Prom-
ises of the Past and Szasz. Education and the American Indian.

43. See Dupuis and Walker, “Circle of Learning at Kickapoo"; Fiordo,
“(beat Learning Enterprise"; Hornberger, Indigenous Literacies in the
Americas-, Lipka and Stairs, “Negotiating the Culture of Indigenous Schools";
McCarty, “School as Community"; Palmer, “Language and Culture Ap-
proach”; Rosier and Holm, Rock' Point Experience'. Watahomigie and
McCarty. “Language in Literacy": McCarty and Zepeda. “Indigenous Lan-
guage Education and Literacy"; and Stokes. “Curriculum for Native American
Students."

K- TSIANINA LOMAWAIMA

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Wilson. .1. Donald. "'No Blanket to Be Worn in School*: The Education of
Indians in Nineteenth Century Canada.*' In Barman, Hebert, and McCaskill,
1986.

31 1 ,

Chapter 2

Tribal Control of
American Indian Education

Observations Since the 1960s with
Implications for the Future

John W. Tipi'Kconnk* III 1

I n the midst of educational reform and improvement across the
United States, a movement toward self-determination is taking
place among American Indians and Alaska Natives.* 1 his move-
ment toward Indian control of Indian education actually started in
the 1960s, secured legislation in the 1970s, survived the 1980s.
picked up momentum in the 1990s, and promises to gain even
greater significance beyond 2000. A system of education controlled
by Indian tribes is developing. U includes every level of education—
from early childhood to graduate school. Increasingly, American
Indian students will have choices and alternatives to traditional
public and Bureau oi Indian Affairs (BIA) schools and to mainstream
colleges and universities. In tribal educational settings, American
Indian languages and cultures will form the foundation on which all
knowledge is built. Mainstream schools interested in exploring al-
ternative ways of teaching and learning will have new opportunities
to establish mutually beneficial connections with triballv controlled
schools that emphasize Indigenous knowledge and “Native ways of
knowing."

This chapter discusses the history and nature of Indian control of
Indian education since the 1960s and its implications for the future.

Numerous studies and reports have concluded that tribal/local
control of formal education in schools is absolutely necessary if
education tor American Indians is to improve significantly. Local
control of public education is a right and responsibility of the states,
implied by the U.S. Constitution’s lack of mention of any federal role.
Local or tribal control is also a basic principle inherent in the sover-
eignty status of American Indian tribes. The current federal policy of
tribal self-determination, supported by legislation, provides the ad-
ministrative mechanism for tribes to assume greater control over
their own affairs, including education.

Tribal control is also essential for another reason. Historically,
the United States has used education to change and assimilate Ameri-
can Indians, or put another way, to eliminate the Indians by the
systematic destruction of tribal languages and cultures in schools.
This cultural genocide of tribal people is a tragedy and an irony in a
country that supposedly values diversity. Assimilation has not worked,
but its impact is reflected in education statistics and in the poor
quality oi schooling received by many American Indian students
today. Formal education has placed too many Indian students at risk
of failing in both Native and mainstream American societies. Tribal
control is necessary not only to achieve tribal and individual self-
sufficiency but to reclaim and strengthen the use of Native languages
and cultures in schools and communities, thus ensuring a strong
future for all Indian people.

Brief History'

Indian control ol education is not new. The Cherokee and Choctaw
tribes operated successful school systems in which they taught in
their Native languages and Knglish during the nineteenth century.
The quality of education in the Cherokee and Choctaw schools,
including written Knglish, was superior to that of the White people
around them. The federal government, favoring an assimilation ap-
proach to education, did away with these successful tribal schools. ‘
todays Indian control movement is based on these early tribal
education success stories. It is viewed as a wav to address the adverse

3/1

C V- ■ ■ » Avi- h?VM< E t

affects the assimilation policy had on Indian education, including
limited student success, lack of tribal control, and limited parental
involvement.

Contemporary Indian control is rooted in efforts to involve par-
ents and other tribal members in the education of their children. The
Meriam Report called for a new attitude and approach to educating
Indian students: "The most fundamental need in Indian education is
a change in the point of view." '* It also called for the use of Indian
language and culture in Indian education. Further, the Meriam Re-
port recommended the following:

The whole task of community participation, so important for
the Indian, has to be consciously worked at; for example, the
Indians should be serving on school committees in the day
school as a means of enlisting their general interest in all that
involves the child’s education and development, and also as a
gradual preparation for service on boards of education.* 1

The Great Society programs of the 1960s focused on local commu-
nity development and action in education. 'Hie change in federal
Indian policy from cultural termination to tribal self-determination
called for more Indian involvement and Indian control in education.
In 1968 President Johnson demanded the establishment of Indian
school boards at federal Indian schools. By May 1969, 1 74 of the
BI/Vs 222 schools had advisory boards. The number of Indians on
public school boards also increased during the late 1960s.

The Kennedy Report recommended "that Indian parental and
community involvement be increased . . . that state and local com-
munities facilitate and encourage Indian community and parental
involvement in the development and operation of public education
programs for Indian students . . . that there be a national policy
committing ... to maximum participation and control by Indians in
establishing Indian education programs." Further, the Kennedy Re-
port recommended support for successful schools under Indian con-
trol. such as Rough Rock Demonstration School and community
colleges like Navajo Community College (now known as Dine Col-
lege ). H

In 1966 Rough Rock Demonstration School was established on
the Navajo Reservation. It marked the first time an elected school
board, comprising all Indians, had complete control of a school. An

W. T;t>?>uONNt, Ill

early Rough Rock Demonstration School publication offers a glimpse
of the board’s philosophy and expectations of Indian control:

Rough Rock Demonstration School will show whether or not so
called uneducated and unsophisticated Indians can assume
leadership and control over the total education of their com-
munity. In the past the “father knows best” attitude was most
frequently practiced and the level of local community involve-
ment was minimal.

The philosophy underlying and permeating the Rough Rock
Demonstration School is that the Navajo people have the right
and ability to direct and provide leadership in the education of
their community. Rough Rock is funded by the Bureau of In-
dian Affairs and the Office of Economic Opportunity but it
BELONGS to the Navajo people. The true “bosses” of the school
are not the BIA, OEO, or even the school officials but rather the
Navajo people and Rough Rock Community itself. This is the
challenge and the opportunity awaiting this school at this com-
munity."

Parents and other community members at Rough Rock were
welcomed to participate in all school activities. The curriculum and
teaching methods integrated the Navajo culture and language. The
American Indian Policy Review Commission found that

Indian community controlled schools are the most significant
education system for Indians today. They are restoring the sclf-
image and interest in learning among Indian young people.
They are lowering the drop-out rate and restoring responsibil-
ity and discipline among our young people. They are graduat-
ing young people who have solid basic skills and a good feeling
about themselves and their heritage."

In 1968 Navajo Community College became the first institution of
higher education controlled by an Indian tribe. Navajo Community
College’s philosophy and academic program were based on the “Na-
vajo way” with institutional governance by an all-Navajo board of
regents. In 1971 Congress passed the Narajo Community Collcyc
Act , which provided federal financial support to the college.

The 1972 Indian Education Act appropriated funds to public

A. •

I'HRAi lJ An*1 W'C AN InD.AN Ei .. A'ii'N

schools to meet the culturally related academic needs of Indian
students. Parent involvement was encouraged through mandated
parent committees. The Act also directed discretionary funds to
Indian institutions, organizations, tribes, and individuals for educa-
tional services that ranged from early childhood to graduate school.

In 1975 the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance
Act (Public Law 93-638) authorized the federal government to enter
into “638" contracts with Indian tribes and tribal organizations for
tribal operation of BIA and Indian Health Service programs. The
Johnson O’Malley program was amended to allow for more Indian
control of contracts to public schools. In 1978 the Tribady Con-
trolled Community College Assistance Act provided financial sup-
port to tribal colleges. u

The Education Amendments of 1978 (Public Law 95-561) de-
clared, “it shall be the policy of the BIA in earn ing out the functions
of the Bureau, to facilitate Indian control of Indian affairs in all
matters relating to education.” Among other things, Public Law 95-
561 recognized the lack of Indian involvement and participation in
education and stressed local involvement and control. In 1988 Con-
gress passed the Tribady Controlled School Act (Public Law 100-
297), which allowed for the direct granting (as opposed to contract-
ing) of funds to school boards to operate schools. Public Law 100-
297 also authorized the BIA to fund tribal departments of education,
none of which have ever been funded. 14

This congressional legislation did not happen because of the good-
will of Congress or presidential administrations. Rather, it was be-
cause of the political wisdom and persistence of Indian educators,
Indian institutions, Indian organizations, tribes, and other driving
forces behind legislative and executive branch actions. The Coalition
of Indian Controlled School Boards (CICSB), National Indian Edu-
cation Association (NIKA), National Congress of American Indians
(NCA1). American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHHC),
National Indian School Boards Association (N1SBA), Native Ameri-
can Rights Eund (NARK), Navajo Area School Boards Association
(NASBA). and the Association of Community Tribal Schools (ACTS)
arc just some of the organizations that played key roles with the
White House and Congress in advancing Indian education.

In the 1990s the policy of self-determination coincided with e f-
forts to downsize and redesign the ledcral government. The results

W T ; :

V. Ill

were an increased push for tribal control and flexibility of B1A re-
sources through tribal self-governance and a revision of the budget
process to include funding to tribes through Tribal Priority Alloca-
tions. 1 ’ However, a concern associated with this push for tribal
control of resources is the limited existing funds, with little new
money to enhance tribal control.

It is clear that tribal control and Indian control of education are
being realized within the federal system, especially by those pro-
grams and schools supported by the BIA. During the 1994-95 school
year, for the first time in history, there were more tribally controlled
schools (93) than BIA-operated schools (92) at the elementary and
secondary levels. Today more than 114 tribally controlled schools
educate more than 50,000 students. The numbers will continue to
increase as long as funds and opportunities are available to support
tribal control of education.

Tribal colleges are probably the most successful examples of Indian
control of education. Today more than 25,000 students attend 31 tribal

colleges in the United States and Canada, This success is demonstrated
by the colleges’ designation in 1994 as land-grant institutions (Public
Uuv 103-382) and by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation’s Native American
Higher Kducation Initiative to strengthen and improve tribal colleges
and other higher education institutions.

Public education has fell the presence of Indian involvement rather
than tribal control. It is safe to assume parents, tribal community
members, and tribes are more involved in public school education
today. However, we cannot say that tribal control exists at the public
school level because states have authority for public education.

Observations about Tribal Control of Education

Several observations can he made about tribal control of educa-
tion, based on a review of the literature. These observations fall into
five thematic groups: the meaning and significance of tribal control;
players, roles, and responsibilities; successes and potential; chal-
lenges; and research findings and needs.

The Meaning and Significance of Tribal Control.

A 1997 statement issued by the National Congress of Ameri-
can Indians and the National Indian Kducation Association

asserts that t he education of \meriean Indians

takes place in complex and often contusing environments given
the roles and expectations of parents, local schools, communi-
ties, tribes, states, and the federal government. This complex-
ity of the inter-governmental arena in which Indian learners
are provided schooling requires a focused federal Indian edu-
cation policy which recognizes the authority of tribal govern-
ments. the federal-tribal government relationship and the his-
tory of federal involvement in the education of American Indi-
ans in federal, tribal, and slate schools. The political/legal
status of tribal governments includes as one aspect of sover-
eignty a primacy authority in the education of tribal mem-
bers."*

Outside of Indian count ry. few people realize that Indian tribes do
not tali under the jurisdiction of states but arc recognized as sover-
eign bodies by the federal government. As such, tribal governments
have the legal right to make decisions about how to educate tribal
members.

Indian control of education is different from tribal con-
trol. The terms Indian parent inrolccmcnt , community control,
local control, and tribal control are often used interchangeably to
denote aspects of Indian control of education. Hut these terms do not
necessarily mean the same thing. The most significant difference is
between tribal control and local or community control, with tribal
control meaning that the actual tribal government is in control and
local or community control usually meaning that school boards
comprise community members. Parent involvement does not mean
tribal control. Tribally controlled schools can mean tribal control if
schools arc sanctioned or chartered by tribal governments.

Loretta DcLong, in defining Indian control, makes a distinction
between organizational and infrastructure levels. An organizational
level of Indian control is exhibited in schools that arc controlled and
primarily staffed by tribal members. Indian control at the infrastruc-
ture level is exhibited when the school curriculum reflects the cul-
ture, language, teachings, and values of the tribe. She contends the
focus has been on the organizational level rather than the infrastruc-
ture level.'

39 S i

John W. TiPPEC.ONNIC III

Tribal control is essential to self-determination. Tribal
control is in keeping with the government-to-government relation-
ship and the policy of tribal self-determination. Tribal control is a
basic principle inherent in the sovereignty status of American Indian
tribes. Its premise is that the education of American Indians will be
most effective when controlled directly by tribal governments. Tribal
control is essential to achieve self-sufficiency and to strengthen the
use of Native languages and cultures in schools. lK

True tribal control is a recent development. The establish-
ment of Rough Rock Demonstration School in 1966 was the first
time since the Cherokee and Choctaw schools, 120 years earlier, that
an Indian community had been allowed to have some control over
educating its children. Today’s tribal schools are “young and experi-
mentar and growing.'" Although the developing tribally controlled
system includes early childhood education through graduate study,
gaining the involvement of the communities will take a sustained
effort over time. Roger Bordeaux explains, “Once communities as-
sume control of the educational process they must deal with the
vestiges of an education system that tried to stamp out all remnants
of Indian culture and values." There is a long history of exclusion of
Indian parents and tribes in schools that promoted assimilation. 20

This is an active time in the tribal control movement.

Although tribal control is a national movement, this does not mean
there is a single national tribal system or that national education
standards apply to all schools. Rather, the movement is at the tribal
level, with increasing numbers of tribes gaining greater control of
the schools serving their members. With more than 560 tribes,
different approaches to tribal control are to be expected. Tribally
controlled education systems have developed especially well in In-
dian communities with tribal colleges. For example, in collaboration
with the teacher education program at Sinte Gleska University, the
Rosebud Tribal Department of Education is developing an education
code that will influence the schooling of its tribal members for years
to come.’ 1

Across the United States, K-12, higher education, and other t rib-
ally controlled education programs have developed networks and
organizations to enhance collaboration. They often partner with
professional organizations such as NIKA, NCAI, AIHKC, and ACTS

Tr-HAi Coniwoi Of American Indian Educaiqn

to improve Indian education and advance local and tribal control.
Despite all this activity, the movement toward tribal control of In-
dian education is not well known outside Indian country, which
could pose a problem in gaining funding. Funding is needed, in
accordance with Public Law 100-297* to develop further and main-
tain tribal departments of education. The general public needs to
become more knowledgeable and supportive of this el fort to im-
prove educational outcomes for American Indians and Alaska Na-
tives." 2

Players, Roles, and Responsibilities

Most students attend public schools, which are controlled
by the states. The majority (approximately 90 percent) of Ameri-
can Indian students at the K-12 level attend public schools. States
differ in their overall relationships with tribes. Issues that influence
tribal-state relations include sovereignty of tribes, economic devel-
opment, environmental protection, public safety, taxes, child wel-
fare, gaming, and education. Noneducation issues often overshadow
Indian education issues and make education less of a priority for
legislators. 23

History tells us states have not always been responsive to the
needs of Indian students in public schools, nor have they typically
included parents and tribes in decision making about public educa-
tion. Growing numbers realize that tribal-state relations must im-
prove if a high-quality educational experience is to be offered to
American Indians in public schools. Various groups have called for
increased partnerships; better communication; the education of state
representatives about sovereignty, tribal governments, and Indian

perspectives; and the education of tribal members about state gov-
ernments and their effect on tribes. In the meantime, some tribes-
like the Rosebud Sioux— have taken the initiative in developing their
own education codes to govern education on their reservations,
regardless of school type. 24

The federal government has major financial responsibil-
ity for the education of American Indians* Tribal sovereignty
and treaties form the legal basis for the governnient-to-government

relationship, trust, federal legislation, executive decisions, court de-
cisions, and the policy of tribal self-determination. Tribal sover-

-\W. T.‘m *

eignty needs to be understood better by the general public and
government entities.-*' ■

Long-term difficulties schools and tribes have experienced in
working with the federal bureaucracy have included threats to termi-
nate the recognition of particular tribal nations; resistance from the
president. BIA, and other federal employees; and difficulty in ar-
ranging contracts with the federal government. In 1988 some of
these difficulties were alleviated by Public Law 100-297, which au-
thorized grants to schools. Today, most Indian-controlled schools
operate under grants from the BIA.-**’

More often than not, Indian education is not a priority at
state, federal, tribal, and local school system levels. The
education of American Indians appears to be forgotten and consid-
ered insignificant at times. At the national level, awareness and
concern about Indian education seems to fluctuate according to
political, economic, and social issues of the day. Congressional ap-
propriation committees continue to give Indian education little pri-
ority and actually impede the growth of tribal control by including
budget language that limits the growth of tribal schools. Often, tribal
governments pay little attention to education issues, focusing in-
stead on economic, natural resource, and political issues.-'

Successes and Potential

There is increasing evidence that when tribes control education,
American Indian students do better. For example, the American
Indian Policy Review Commission reported that drop-out rates were
down at Indian-controlled schools. A study by Bordeaux indicates
high school completion rates increased from 20-30 percent in 1970
to 65-80 percent in 1996. However, earlier in the decade. Melody L.
McCoy contended that "inroads have been made, but tribal control is
still indirect, uncoordinated, or too limited. Legislation is needed
that eonlirms and supports direct tribal control over all education
systems that serve tribal children." Bordeaux predicts that over the
next five years, Indian-controlled schools will show “major improve-
ments in academic achievement, tribal language preservation, suc-
cess in postsecondary education, and relevant employment. "- H

TViRAi Com»*'i <

Challenges

Many challenges lie ahead for those tribes already in control of
their schools and for those tribes currently seeking control. The
challenges described here relate to obtaining adequate funding, im-
proving academic performance, increasing the presence of Native
cultures and languages, increasing parental and tribal involvement,
upgrading school facilities, developing Indian leadership and staff-
ing, and obtaining accreditation.

Obtaining adequate funding. Funding continues to be a chal-
lenge. Adequate funding has been a major concern since the 1928
Meriam Report:

(Indian education] will cost more money than the present
program. The real choice before the government is between
doing a mediocre job thereby piling up for the future serious
problems in poverty, disease, and crime, and spending more
for an acceptable social and educational program. . . . Cheap-
ness in education is expensive.-"

Today there continues to be a lack of adequate funding for tribal
schools, and the funding that is available is inconsistent and lacks
stability. Funding is also inadequate for tribal colleges and for “train-
ing centers, for teachers and administrators, and for research and
development of new educational techniques and procedures."

The Department of Interior appropriation committees in Con-
gress play the most important role in funding BlA-supported educa-
tion and schools. A major challenge is to educate and convince
Congress about the importance of tribal control ol education and its
potential for improving the overall development of American Indian
communities. Most recently, the appropriation committees placed a
moratorium on the number of BlA-supported schools and restricted
school grade expansions. Congress may also limit the number of
tribal grant schools because the administrative expenses allocated to
tribal schools would increase. 11

Claming has directly helped education, often at tribally controlled
institutions. Most tribes with gaming profits invest funds in educa-
tion. often improving or building new school facilities and providing
higher education scholarships.

John W. TippcconniC II)

Improving the academic performance of American In-
dian students. Many American Indian students do well on aca-
demic achievement tests, but most score below national norms.
Research by Donna Deyhle and Karen Swisher shows American
Indians and White students in the United States have similar capa-
bilities for learning, but many Indians struggle with ongoing “atti-
tudes and beliefs of inferiority.

In some cases, measurement problems make it difficult to tell how
well American Indian students are actually performing. Bordeaux
reports some criticisms of standardized, nationally normed tests and
discusses possible benefits of alternative performance-based assess-
ment tools. Tribal schools, aware of the student-testing situation,
are exploring alternative means of assessment. 1 '

Increasing the infusion of Indian cultures and languages
into the curriculum. One major benefit of Indian involvement in
and tribal control of education is the increasing presence of Ameri-
can Indian languages and cultures in education, including the prac-
tice of bilingual-bieultural education. The importance of language
and culture in meeting the needs of American Indian students is
recognized in now mathematics, science, and technology guidelines
developed for schools and communities.-”

An example of groundbreaking work in the area of culturally
responsive schools is Gregory Cajete's book Look to the Mountains,
which presents an Indigenous education framework including a cur-
riculum mandala for science. Another example is the work of the
Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative, which is making significant contri-
butions by developing and integrating Alaska Native knowledge and
ways of knowing into state standards and classrooms across the
state. r>

Despite these exemplary efforts, the overall effort to integrate
American Indian culture and language into school curricula is piece-
meal and has realized marginal degrees of success. Tribal schools
generally have more potential and are more successful in cultural
integration than public schools, where control of school philosophy
and curriculum is located in the state departments of education and
local school hoards.

Increasing parental and tribal involvement. Contempo-
rary parental and Indian involvement in formal schooling is rela-

TutBAi Conwoi c it Ami pu an Indian Eiujcauon

lively new; tribal control of education is even newer. Meaningful
involvement and control began in the 1960s but really took hold
when it was mandated by the Indian Education Act of 1972 through
program advisory parent committees. Still, the relatively low level of
parent involvement continues to be an issue today, requiring educa-
tors to seek new ways to involve parents beyond serving on commit-
tees and participating in special school activities. Parents need to be
involved in their children’s education on a daily basis and to promote
use of their tribal !anguages. :,f>

Achieving high levels of parent involvement is not easy to do.
Neither is the task of obtaining local and tribal control. Many barri-
ers impede progress, drain resources, and divert attention away
from improving teaching and learning. There has been an ongoing
need for technical assistance since the 1970s. Gaining Indian control
happens more readily in federally controlled Bi A schools than public
schools because of federal responsibility in Indian education, the
national policy of tribal self-determination, and existing federal leg-
islation. Indian control is more difficult to achieve in public schools
because of states’ authority over education. r

Parental involvement and tribal control connect communities to
schools. This is true at both the college and K-12 levels. When
community involvement is high, the school becomes a focal point
and is involved in the reconstitution of community life. iK

Upgrading school facilities. School facilities serving Indian
communities at the K-12 level are often obsolete, ill designed, or
even condemned. There is a strong need for facilities construction at
tribal colleges. Studies from the 1970s identified a shortage of school
construction funds as the most immediate financial problem in In-
dian education for schools eligible for Public Law 815 ( Federally
Impacted Areas Aid Act) funds. The situation has not improved.
New school construction, renovations, and repair of existing facili-
ties are major problems in BlA-supported schools. There exists a
backlog of at least $700 million in needed renovations and repairs
alone.*"

Developing Indian leadership and staffing. There is a need
to prepare more Indian people for leadership roles including staff,
teacher, administrator, and school board roles. The same need exists
for faculty development programs at tribal colleges. Indian involve-

J- >-N W. T HI

ment and control can be achieved only when leadership is provided
by Indian people, tribes, educators, organizations, and institutions . 11

Obtaining accreditation. Institutional accreditation and the
certification of staff are concerns because of the creative, innovative,
and unusual approaches to education that are grounded in tribal
languages and cultures. Mainstream accrediting institutions may
not recognize these approaches. Tribally controlled institutions, on
the other hand, value staff that know Native languages and cultures,
and can recognize this knowledge in accreditation and certification
efforts . 4 - 1

Research Findings and Needs

There is greater knowledge about what works in Indian education
than existed in previous eras. Deyhle and Swisher conclude that
research has made a difference in Indian education. They report we
know more about cultural differences, student learning styles, why
students leave school before graduation, the difference caring teach-
ers can make, the role a strong grounding in culture and language
can play in enhancing achievement, and the impact on schooling of
local knowledge combined with Native language. Finding additional
knowledge about what works in tribal schools is very likely, given
their educational philosophies and tribal approaches to education.

American Indians are becoming more involved in and gaining
control of research— including educational research. ' 1 Most tribes
and tribal schools have policies and procedures that control re-
search, ensure Indian involvement, and ensure that research find-
ings are put to good use." Tribes and schools are increasingly en-
gaged in conducting their own research, and the number of Ameri-
can Indian research scholars has increased. The Journal of Ameri-
can Indian Education. Tribal College Journal of American Indian
Higher Education, and American Indian Culture t ,nd Research
Jnurnahwv publications that disseminate Indian education research.

There is a need to study virtually every aspect of tribal control
including the policy of tribal self-determination. Research must de-
termine not only how well students are doing academically but also
explore how Native languages, cultures, and ways of knowing influ-
ence the teaching-learning process in local and tribally controlled

education settings. Tribal schools need to be compared with public
schools to ensure parity and equity in resources and budgets.

Conclusions

The Indian control movement in education gained momentum in
the 1990 s; indications are that tribal control will become even more
established and prominent during the twenty-first century. Indian
control of Indian education has been difficult to achieve, slow to
develop, fragmented in its approach, and besieged with numerous
obstacles and problems. At times, survival has been the main con-
cern. Yet, the movement has persisted, gathered strength, become
more focused, and is increasingly successful. Support and leadership
from tribes, institutions, organizations, governments, and individu-
als have proven essential to the tribal control movement.

The developing tribal system of education will not only benefit
students attending tribal schools, it has the potential to help Indian
students who attend public schools and mainstream colleges and
universities— especially in integrating Indian cultures and languages
to enhance student learning. The development of relevant high-
quality standards and assessment tools will benefit all Indian educa-
tion. Ultimately, tribal control of education will help current and
future Indian leadership achieve greater tribal self-sufficiency and
help ensure cultural and language survival and growth in the future.

Notes

1. John W. Tippeconuic HI (Comanche) teaches Kducalion Policy Studies
and directs the American Indian Leadership Program at The Pennsylvania
State University.

2. Throughout this chapter, the term American Indian is inclusive of
Kskimos, Aleuts, and other Alaska Natives. At times, “Indian’ or “Native’’
might he used to refer to American Indians and Alaska Natives. The BIA does
not currently operate am schools in Alaska; the las! was turned over to the
stale in 198(». The Johnson O’Malley (JOM) program provides the only IMA
funds for elementary and secondary students in Alaska.

;L The intent here is to discuss briefly the history of Indian control of
education. Detailed descriptive histories of Indian education can he found in
the American Indian Policy Review Commission, Report on Indian iiduca -
tion\ Senate Special Subcommittee, Indian iiducation ; National Advisory
Council, Indian lulucation (commonly known as the Kennedy Report); and

John W. Tippi roNNiC III

Szasz, Education and the American Indian. A history of tribally controlled
colleges is found in Stein, Tribally Controlled Colleges.

4. See McKinley, Bayne, and Nimnicht, Who Should Control Indian
Education? Senate Special Subcommittee, Indian Education.

5. Institute for Government Research, Problem of' Indian Administra-
tion, 346 (hereafter cited as Meriatn Report).

6. Ibid., 414-

7. See Fuchs and Havinghurst, To Live on This Earth.

8. Senate Special Subcommittee, Indian Education, 119, 135, 106.

9. Rough Rock Demonstration School, 2.

10. See Johnson, Navaho Education at Rough Rock', McKinley, Bayne,
and Nimnicht, Who Should Control Indian Education?', and Szasz, Education
and the A merit \ an Indian.

11. American Indian Policy Review Commission, Report on Indian Edu-
cation, 265.

12. See Szasz, Education and the American Indian and Stein. Tnba/ly
( 'or trolled C "alleges.

13. See Fi nest L. Boyer, Tribal Colleges.

14. Bordeaux, Our Children, 1.

15. For more information on tribal colleges, seeTippeconnie. “Kditorial."

16. National Congress of American Indians, Comprehensive Federal
Indian Education , 2.

17. DeLong, “Indian Controlled Schools," 13-14.

18. See McCoy, Role of Tribal Governments.

19. See Huff, To Live Heroically.

20. Bordeaux, Our Children, 3. See also McKinley, Bayne, and Nimnicht,
Wilt) Should Control Indian Education? and Senate Special Subcommittee.
Indian Education.

21. See McCoy, Role of Tribal Governments.

22. See White House Conference 011 Indian Hducation, Einal Report.

23. See Reed and Zelio, States and Tribes.

24. See Senate Special Subcommittee, Indian Education', Fducalion
Commission of the Stales, Indian Education ; Indian Nations At Risk Task
Force, Indian Nations At Risk (hereafter cited as Indian Nations At Risk);
Reed and Zelio, States and Tribes', and McCoy, Role of Tribal Governments.

25.

Indians

See Indian Nations At Risk ~ Tippeconnie, “Hducation of American
and Pavel, Swisher, and Ward, "Special Focus.”

26. See American Indian Policy Review Commission, Report on Indian
Education ; Szasz. Education and the American Indian; Bordeaux. Our Chil-
dren; and Dupris, American Indian C "onununity Controlled Education.

27. See Tippeconnie, "Hducation of American Indians" and Tippeconnie,
Kditorial.”

K/«

fat&Ai Conikoi Of American Indian Education

28. McCoy, Role of Tribal Governments, 10; Bordeaux, Our Children, 4.

29- Meriam Report, 347-348.

30. Dupris, American Indian Community Controlled Education , 22. See
also Bordeaux, Our Children', American Indian Policy Review Commission,
Report on Indian Education ; Ernest L. Boyer, Tribal Colleges, ; and Paul
Boyer, Native American Colleges .

31. See Tippeconnic, “Editorial."

32. See Tippeconnic and Swisher, “American Indian Education and
Deyhle and Swisher, “Research in American Indian and Alaska Native Educa-
tion."

33. See Bordeaux, Assessment for American Indian and Alaska Native
Learners.

34. See Johnson, Navaho Education ; American Indian Policy Review
Commission. Report on Indian Education ; and American Indian Science &
Engineering Society. Educating .

35. See Alaska Native Knowledge Network, http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/
NPK.html (25 November 1998).

36. See Indian Nations At Risk .

37. See Huff, To Live Heroically and American Indian Policy Review
Commission, Report on Indian Education.

38. See Paul Boyer, Native American Colleges, Dupris, .4 merican Indian
Community Controlled Education: and American Indian Policy Review Com-
mission, Report on Indian Education .

39. I\L. 815, the Federally Impacted Areas Aid Act, was passed in 1950
to assist school districts in the education of students who lived on federal
lands, including reservations. The act is not solely for Indians but tor any
student who lives on federal land, including children who live on military
bases. Th». re are two impacted aid laws, 815 and 874- P.E. 815 provides funds
for school construction in federally impacted areas. Initially these funds were
not applied to Indian students, but the law was amended in 1953 to include
Indians.

40. Tippeconnic, “Editorial," 4- See also Bordeaux, Our Children: Ernest
L. Boyer, Tribal Colleges, Paul Boyer. Native American Colleges: and
Rosenfelt, “Toward a More Coherent Policy."

41. See American Indian Policy Review Commission. Report on Indian
Education ; Huff, To Live Heroically: Ernest I.. Boyer, Tribal Colleges, and
Paul Boyer, Native American Colleges.

42. See Ernest I.. Boyer, 7'ribal Colleges.

43. See Deyhle and Swisher. “Research in American Indian and Alaska
Native Education"; Swisher, “Why Indian People"; Tippeconnic and Swisher,
“American Indian Education”; and Robbins and Tippeconnic, Research in
American Indian Education.

44. See Tippeconnic and Swisher. “American Indian Education."

REST COPY AVAILABU

49 i, ,

ill

J .s*N W. I it » i ..

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Alaska Native Knowledge Network. (1998, November 3) Native Pathways to
Education. Available at http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/NPE.html (25 Novem-
ber 1998).

American Indian Policy Review Commission. Report on Indian Education.
Washington, LX': U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976.

American Indian Science & Engineering Society. Educating American Indian/
Alaska Math v Elementary and Secondary Students: Guidelines for Math -
enu/tics. Science and Technology Proyrams. Boulder, CO: American Indian
Science & Engineering Society, 1995. ERIC Document Reproduction Service
No. KD 385 404.

Association of Community 'Tribal Schools. Our Children. Our Schools. Our
Tribes: Thirty Years of Local Control of Indian Education i 960 - /ago.
Sisseton, St): Association of Community Tribal Schools, 1996. ERIC Docu-
ment Reproduction Service No. HD 395 740.

Bordeaux, Roger. Assessment for American Indian and Alaska Native Learn-
ers. Charleston, WV: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small
Schools, 1995. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 385 424-

Boyer, Ernest L. Foreword to Tribal Colleges: Shaping the Put are of Native
America, by Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Princeton, N.I: Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
1989.

Boyer, Paul. Native American Colleges: Progress and Prospects. San Fran-
cisco: .lossey-Bass. 1997. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. 409
037.

Cajete, Gregory. Look to the Mountain: An Ecology of Indigenous Education.
Durango, CO: Kivaki Press, 1994.

Del xmg, I /)retta.*' Indian Controlled Schools: The Cnreali/.ed Potential." Tribal
( 'allege Journal 9(4): 13-14 (1998).

Deyhle. Donna, and Karen Swisher. “Research in American Indian and Alaska
Native Education: From Assimilation to Self-Determination." In Review of
Research in Education . vol. 22, edited by Michael W. Apple. Washington,
DC: American Educational Research Association, 1997.

Dupris, Joseph C. American Indian Community Controlled Education: "De-
termination for today . Direction for Tomorrow." bis Cruces, NM: ERIC
Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools, 1980. ERIC' Docu-
ment Reproduction Service No. ED 187 502.

Education Commission of the Slates. Indian Education: Pinal Project Report.
Denver. CO: Education Commission of the States, 1980.

Fuchs, Estelle, and Robert J. Havinghursl. To Live on this Earth: American
Indian Education. Garden City. NY: Doubleday, 1972. Reprint with new
introduction. Albuquerque: University of Now Mexico Press, 1983.

(NJ

T./ G v- . - A y? v .v . i v fo ».

Huff. poeores J. To Uvc Heroically: Institutional Racism and American
Indian Education. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1997.

Indian Nations At Risk Task Force. Indian Xations At Risk: An Educational
Strategy far Action: Final Report of the Indian Xations At Risk Task Force.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Kducalion. 1991. KRIC Document
Reproduction Service No. HD 343 753.

Institute for Government Research. The Problem of Indian Administration:
Report of a Surrey Made at the Request of Honorable Hubert Work.
Secretary of the Interior, and Submitted to Him. February 21. 1928. Balti-
more: Johns Hopkins Press, 1928. Reprint, New York: Johnson Reprint,
1971.

Johnson Broderick 11. Xaraba Education at Rough Rock. Rough Rock. A'/:
Rough Rock Demonstration School, 1968.

McCoy, Melodv L The Role of Tribal Governments in Education Policy: A
Concept Paper. Boulder, CO: Native American Rights Fund, 1991.

McKinley. Francis. Stephen Bayne, and Glen Nimnicht. Who Should Control
Indian Education? A History . Three Case Studies, Recommendations. Her-
kelev, CA: Far West laboratory for Kducational Research and Development.
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National Advisory Council on Indian Kducation. Indian Education: A Federal
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ciation. Comprehensive Federal Indian Education: Policy Statement: A
Proposal from Indian Country to the White House. Washington. DC: Na-
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ciation. 1997. KRIC Document Reproduction Service No. KD 408 137.

Pavel. Michael, Karen Swisher, and Marlene Ward. “Special Focus: American
Indian and Alaska Native Demographic and Kducational Trends." In Status
Report on Minorities in Higher Education: 1994 Thirteenth Annual Status
Report, edited by Deborah J. Carter and Reginald Wilson. Washington, DC:
American Council on Kducation, 1995. KRIC Document Reproduction Ser-
vice No. KD 407 891.

Reed, .lames B., and Judy A. Zelio, eds. States and Tribes: Building Xeie
Traditions. Denver. CO: National Conference of State legislatures. 1997.
KRIC Document Reproduction Sen ice No. KD 396 8^6.

Robbins. Rebecca, and .John Tippeconnic III. Research in American Indian
Education. Tempo. A/.: Center for Indian Kducation, 1985.

Rough Rock Demonstration School. Chink*. A/.: Rough Rock Demonstration
School, n.d.

Senate Special Subcommittee on Indian Kducation. Indian Education: A Xa-
Hanoi Tragedy. .4 Xational Challenge. 91st Congress. 1st sons.. 1969. S.
Rept. 91-501.

Stein. Wayne J. 1'rihully ( 'on trolled ( 'alleges: Making Good Medicine. New
York: Peter l -mg. 1992.

John W. TippiconniC 111

Swisher, Karen Gayton. “Why Indian People Should Be the Ones to Write about
Indian Education.” American Indian Quarterly 20(1): 83-90 (1996).

Szasz, Margaret C. Education and the American Indian: The Road to Self-
Determination Since 1028. 2d ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico
Press, 1977.

Tippeconnic, John W., III. “Editorial ... On BIA Education.” Journal of
American Indian Education 35(0* 1-5 (1995)-

. “The Education of American Indians: Policy, Practice, and Future Direc-
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Donald E. Green and Thomas V. Tonnesen. Milwaukee: University of Wis-
consin System, 1991. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 351 158.

Tippeconnic, John W., and Karen Swisher. “American Indian Education.” In
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New York: Macmillan, 1992.

White House Conference on Indian Education. Final Report of the White
House Conference on Indian Education. Washington, DC: White House
Conference on Indian Education, 1992. ERIC Document Reproduction Ser-
vice No. ED 353 124.

4 i

Chapter 3

Education and the Law

Implications for American Indian/
Alaska Native Students

Linda Sri-: Warner 1

T he right to an education is not a federal right: no references to
education are found in the U.S. Constitution. As a result,
education is considered a state responsibility. The federal gov-
ernment assumes responsibility for education of American Indian/
Alaska Native* 1 students through the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
and through education legislation that targets federally recognized
tribes.

This chapter provides an overview of federal education case law
and legislation. Case law references are U.S. Supreme Court deci-
sions, except as noted. The chapter further discusses the doctrine of
in loco /Hi rent is and its potential applicability tor Indian tribes. The
overview summarizes general case law applicable to all students.
Interpretations with specific implications for American Indian stu-
dents are included where relevant. Currently, there is no Supreme
Court education case law applicable specifically to American Indian
students.

In April 1998 the Central Section Coordinator for the Committee
for Native American Rights sent a memorandum to all schools in

California with American Indian mascots, nicknames, or logos . 1 The
memorandum advised the schools that a lawsuit against the Los
Angeles School District had been upheld in federal district court.
Referring to this landmark decision, the committee invited all Cali-
fornia schools with American Indian mascots or nicknames to “re-
consider" their stances. Although the decision is limited to the juris-
diction of the federal district court where it was delivered, other
district courts may eventually cite this ruling as precedence. At this
writing, the plaintiffs had not decided whether to appeal the case.
Only U.S. Supreme Court decisions become “the law of the land."
and the mascot issue is not slated for Supreme Court review at this
time.

i ” ’ ' - * " ■ ”

i School Law and the U.S. Legal System

| JUDICIAL SYSTEM

! There are 50 state court systems, a court system for the District of
Columbia, and a federal court system. Each court within a system is
i identified by its jurisdiction. Jurisdiction often refers to the geographic
| area over which a particular court has authority. Jurisdiction refers to the
power of a court to adjudicate a dispute. To have the power to order a
defendant to do anything (or refrain from doing anything), a court must
j have personal jurisdiction over the defendant.

; Jurisdiction alludes to the extent of power a court has over certain
■ subject matter or a particular kind of dispute. These are some of the more
, common classifications of subject matter jurisdiction:

* Limited or special jurisdiction. A criminal court of limited jurisdiction
cannot take a noncrimihal case

* General jurisdiction. A state court of general jurisdiction can handle
j any case that raises state questions (state constitution, state statutes.

1 or state common law).

j • Exclusive jurisdiction. An example of exclusive jurisdiction is juve-
j nile court.

* Concurrent jurisdiction. An example of concurrent jurisdiction is

I family court and county court, which have jurisdiction to enforce a
! child custody order.

j • Original jurisdiction, trial court, or court of first instance. The first
| court to hear and decide a case. This court may overlap with other
j designations of jurisdiction

| • Appellate jurisdiction. This court can hear appeals from lower tribu-
i nals. An appeal is a review of what a lower court or agency has done
j to determine if there was any error Sometimes, a party can appeal to

1 I*

, A*

•/A. a

N-

This example accentuates an Indian education issue: the breadth
of education case law at the Supreme Court level is minimal. Vet the
existing education case law is applicable to Indian students in pub-
lic and tribal schools. ‘Hus chapter reviews briefly the Supreme
Court cases that serve as the primary basis for education policy and
regulation. Also reviewed is education legislation that targets Ameri-
can Indian populations.

School law, as many specialized fields in law, requires a general
understanding of the legal system in this country (see box below),
'lids general understanding can be applied to schools serving Ameri-
can Indian populations. It is important to note that schools sene

the appellate court as a matter of right: in other Kinds of cases, the
appellate court has discretion as to whether it will hear the appeal.

STATE COURTS i

Depending on the state. there may be one or more levels of trial courts j
that hear disputes, determine case tacts, and make initial determinations j
or rulings. These are courts of ouginai jurisdiction. State courts may also
review cases initially decided by an administrative agency. State courts
have variously configured appellate courts based on the state's constitu-
tion. Case law specific to states is not reviewed in this work because of its j
limited applicability to ail Indian students. 1

FEDERAL COURT SYSTEM j

The federal court system, like those of the stales, consists of two basic j
kinds: courts of original jurisdiction (trial courts) and appellate courts. The j
basic federal trial courts are U.S. district courts. There are about 100
districts, including at least one for every state, the District of Columbia.
Guam, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Specialized courts include the
U.S. Tax Court, U.S. Claims Court and U.S. Court ot International Trade.

Appeals courts have two levels: middle appeals and final appeals.
Primary courts at the middle level are U.S. courts of appeals: eleven j
comprising groups of states and territories, with a twelfth for the District of
Columbia. Their primary function is to review the decisions of federal
courts of original jurisdiction.

The federal court of final appeals is the U.S. Supreme Court; it
provides the final review of decisions of all federal courts and federal
agencies. The Supreme Court may also review state court decisions that j
raise questions involving the U.S. Constitution or a federal statute. The j
Supreme Court does not hear every case presented to it \

bb l - j

primarily a state function, and each state organizes and supervises
education as its constitution and statues allow. The Tenth Amend-
ment to the U.S. Constitution provides the basis for state control:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution,
nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respec-
tively, or to the people.

Case law is not the only source of law. Constitutions, statutes,
ordinances, and regulations are also sources for education law. The
legislative branch of government is responsible for passing laws.
Citizens are moie likely to be aware of case law than legislation
because of the media attention to court opinions at all levels. The
function of the courts is to resolve or adjudicate disputes by inter-
preting and applying applicable constitutions, statutes, ordinances,
and regulations. Suppose a dispute comes before a court and no
statutes, ordinances, regulations, or constitutional provisions gov-
ern the facts of the dispute. The judge will rely on prior opinions in
which the court has established rules for this type of dispute. If no
such opinions exist, the judge may be forced to create new rules.
Such judicially created rules are referred to collectively as common
law. Judges create common law in their written opinions.

Trust Responsibility

When case law involves American Indian individuals or tribes, it
is important to understand the federal government's trust responsi-
bility to tribal entities. Case law involving the BIA is handled by the
Department of Interior’s Solicitor's Office. If the matter goes to
court, the Department of .Justice may represent the BIA. Both Inte-
rior and Justice have responsibilities to other government agencies.
Conflict of interest specific to Indian tribes is not unusual within the
government. The Supreme Court has made it clear that, in such
circumstances, tribes cannot be favored/' t ribes cannot be relieved
of the res judicata" effect merely because the government has repre-
sented both the tribes and those competing with them/ While the
trust responsibility for education has been debated and/or ignored
by executive priority over the years, the courts have supported edu-
cation for American Indians. The courts have asserted in some opin-
ions that while no legal obligation can be found in treaties, the
federal government s historical moral obligation for edueation lakes

j<s.»,v> mw Amu-k at, Ira- .. m/A( A‘.k.\ Naim SiufjfNis

E P„-.a!- % a;,: . ■„. Lav,, jytyi A

precedence. 8

Jurisdiction in Indian country is determined by a complex mix-
ture of factors including the existence or nonexistence of applicable
specific federal jurisdictional or regulatory statutes governing the
issue. For example, in a 1985 case, the Supreme Court held that a
non-Indian party could sue in federal court under federal Indian law
to contest a tribal court's authority to exercise jurisdiction over a
civil dispute.' 1 ' However, non-Indian individuals seeking to invoke
federal court jurisdiction must First exhaust all tribal court remedies
before proceeding. This decision helped establish the relationship of
tribal and federal courts for cases involving non-Indians.

Despite the history of Indian/non-Indian affairs, the number of
court cases that specifically address Indian education is nearly non-
existent. However, this may correlate to the relatively small number
of federal laws that specifically address education issues. School
officials need a basic understanding of school law to make informed
decisions. Case law and legislation form the basic framework for
decision making in schools.

Case Law

Case law in education falls into the following general areas: disci-
pline, curriculum, free speech, tort law, equity, special education,
finance, and compulsory attendance. Case law at any level is bound
by the jurisdiction of the court; comparable jurisdictions may have
conflicting rulings in case law. This section highlights education case
law at the U.S. Supreme Court level. These rulings apply to a!!
schools, but some carry additional implications for American Indi-
ans.

Discipline. The 1977 Supreme Court ease Inyrahum v. Wright
considered whether corporal punishment constituted "cruel and un-
usual punishment” as prohibited by the Kighth Amendment to the
Constitution. In its decision (five to four), the Court ruled paddling
does not require Kighth Amendment protections. The court ruled
that paddling neither violated any substantive rights nor caused any
student to suffer any grievous loss. Requiring notice and a hearing
for every corporal punishment case would, according to the Court,
“significantly burden the use of corporal punishment as a disciplin-
ary measure." Most states have laws prohibiting corporal punish-

ment, and even in states without such laws, school officials often
discipline students without the use of corporal punishment. Federal
and tribal schools typically prohibit the use of corporal punishment.

'fhe due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was found
to apply to students in (loss r. Lope xT a 1975 Supreme Court case.
Nine public school students in Columbus, Ohio, had been suspended
from school for up to 10 days for various misconducts connected
with student unrest. None had been given the benefit of a hearing.
The Court reasoned that students have two protections under the
constitution: property interest in a free education and liberty inter-
est in a freedom from injury to the students' reputation. The Court
found that students should receive at least

* oral or written notice of the charges, and if the student denies
the charges, then

* a summary of the evidence against the student, and

* an informal opportunity to present his or her side of the story.

B1A schools and tribally controlled schools have policies and proce-
dures sanctioned by local boards that include due process activities
forstudents alleged to have broken school rules.

Curriculum. Curriculum questions presented to the Supreme
Court provide a range of decisions, some touching on other issues
such as academic freedom and freedom of speech or press. A 1963
case. School District of Abington Township v. SchemppS focused
on religious freedom. Students had been required to read at least 10
verses from the Bible, and school authorities required students to
recite the Lord's Prayer. The question for the Court centered on the
violation of religious freedom as protected by the First and Four-
teenth Amendments. M The court ruled the required activities vio-
lated First Amendment clauses protecting the free exercise of reli-
gion and prohibiting government establishment of religion. Further,
the ability of a parent to excuse a child from these ceremonies by
written note was irrelevant since it did not prevent the school's
actions from violating the establishment clause. No case law has
tested the use of tribal religious activities in federal or tribal schools.

In l mu r. Xicho/s nou-Knglish-speaking Chinese students in
San Francisco brought a class-action suit seeking relief against un-

f l AJJ! • ',-f t_A.\ . i'

»! v At.uvi »\fi lt.;-A'i/A s A‘ r a N '- 1 \i \

equal educational opportunities. California state law provided that
English should he the basic language of all schools, yet many native
Chinese students were unable to understand English. The Supreme
Court, relying solely on Section 601 of the ( 'inil Rights Act 1964, ,r ‘
found that such discrimination did exist in programs receiving fed-
eral financial assistance. The Court indicated that a student “brings
to the starting line of his educational career different advantages and
disadvantages caused in part by social, economic, and cultural back-
ground, created and continued completely apart from any contribu-
tion to the school system.” By requiring English (e.g., state-imposed
standards), “there is no equality of treatment merely by providing
students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers, and curricu-
lum; for students who do not understand English are effectively
foreclosed from any meaningful education.”

The implications of these two cases for American Indian students
compel school officials to consider entanglement questions (church
and state) and second-language instruction for speakers of Native
languages. Given the history of assimilation policies and practices in
federal and public schools, particularly in view of the 1990 Native
American Languages Act , and tribal officials are sensitive to the
need to incorporate "Native ways of knowing” throughout the cur-
riculum.

Free speech. Constitutional freedoms for students are fairly
new to the Supreme Court. The landmark case on speech is Tinker e.
Pcs Moines Independent Community School Districts' In Tinker ,
the primary issue was protected speech. Students in Dos Moines,
Iowa, had worn black arm bands to protest the Vietnam War. In the
decision, the Court reasoned that wearing an arm hand as a political
protest is a symbolic act of speech and constitutes a form of “pure
speech.” The speech or expression was "pure” because it was not
accompanied by disruptive conduct. In fact, testimony indicated
most other students were apathetic. The court made clear that sym-
bolic speech would not be protected in a ease where discipline could
not be maintained, distracting from the educational processes. Memo-
rable language from this decision includes the following: "It can
hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitu-
tional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the selioolhouse
gate.”

59 < d.

For schools with American Indian populations, the most relevant
language in the 'Tinker case concerns “undifferentiated fear or ap-
prehension of disturbance” and the probability that school adminis-
trators will make decisions based on the potential discipline prob-
lems. In his decision. Justice Abe Fortas referred to a 1996 circuit
court decision: “As Judge Gcwin, speaking for the Fifth Circuit, said,
school officials cannot suppress ‘expressions of feelings with which
they do not wish to contend. ” r

The wearing of insignia or slogans now is usually covered by
school dress codes. For school administrators and board members,
the prohibition of pins (e.g., “Free Leonard Peltier” buttons) re-
quires comparable attention. Does the wearing of an insignia consti-
tute a disturbance to the educational program? If so, what is the
likely extent of such disturbance? The Supreme Court has not re-
viewed cases involving student dress or appearance.

Tort law. Tort 11 * claims require establishing negligence of (1)
duty of care, (2) breach of that duty through a negligent act or
omission, (3) an injury, and (4) a proximate cause between the
breach of the duty and injury. Each qualifier must be present. Negli-
gence is the failure to use the degree of care a person of ordinary
prudence and reason would exercise under the same or similar
circumstances. Reasonable care, in the context of professional negli-
gence. requires exercising the degree of skill and care ordinarily
employed by members of the same profession under similar condi-
tions and in like surrounding circumstances. Thus, an elementary
teacher is expected to have knowledge and skills in early childhood
development. A college professor, however, is not likely to need
knowledge about the development of preschool children in order to
perform his or her professional duties: he or she would be judged by
standards applicable to a professional teacher of adults. The courts
also use as a qualifier the expertise a professional portrays to a
community. For example, if a college teacher professed to have
specific qualifications in preschool education, the courts would con-
sider those qualifications. As a result, the question of whether the
duty has been breached turns on the professional's departure from
the standard of care rather than on the event.

Cases alleging tort responsibility have increased in recent years.
One of the immediate defenses bv school officials in a tort case is the

E fine aik >n anl' ik Law: tUr'er aim »ns i< t; A‘,*f pie an Indian/ A; ask a Naiivf $»\iofNis

common law doctrine of in loco parentis. In loco parentis translates
literally as in place of the parents. A school official would argue that
any decision regarding a student is based on the premise that school
officials often act in place of parents. More recently, courts have
been asked to address liability issues of schools and school employ-
ees for failing to prevent a suicide or failing to provide notice to
parents of a student's suicidal tendencies. Recent circuit court cases
involving this doctrine concern litigation by parents of a student who
has committed suicide. In one instance, the court stated “there is a
duty which arises between a teacher or a school district and a stu-
dent. This duty has previously been recognized bv this Court as
simply a duty to exercise reasonable care in supervising students
while they attend school. In another case, the mother of a 13-year-
old student who had committed suicide brought a 1983 civil rights
suit and wrongful death action based on the failure of school admin-
istrators to prevent the student’s suicide. 2 " The jury awarded the
mother $165,000 in damages. Those two cases are regional, yet they
provide educators with an understanding of recent decision-making
trends.

In the 1975 Supreme Court case Wood v. Strickland.'' school
officials used a defense based on common-law tradition and public
policy: “School officials are entitled to a qualified good-faith immu-
nity from such liability for damages.” In this case, the students had
been expelled from school for violating a school regulation prohibit-
ing the use or possession of intoxicating beverages at school or
school activities. The students claimed their suspensions violated
the due process requirements of the Constitution. The Court’s opin-
ion discusses the balance of qualified and absolute immunity for
school officials in detail. The significant discussion of the interfer-
ence with school administration ends with this comment: “The sys-
tem of public education that has evolved in this Nation relies neces-
sarily upon the discretion and judgement of school administrators
and school board members,” Historically, the Supreme Court has
been reluctant to intervene in the administration of schools, result-
ing in a small number of education cases adjudicated in the high
court.

Implications for schools serving American Indian students are
clear. Negligence will not he tolerated, nor is it defensible. Prior eras,
wherein imimmitv was the first line of defense, are obsolete. The

61 t* •

L<N'[ ; ft $i,t W- •

courts will protect school officials acting in a “reasonable” manner.
The doctrine of in loco pa re mis appears to be most useful in a
boarding school; however, its weight in a Supreme Court case is yet
to be determined. In considering liability, courts also consider the
age and maturity of the child and the foreseeability of the incident.

Equity. Equity issues typically pertain to people complaining
they have been denied a benefit or suffered a burden unfairly. The
legal foundation is the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has placed the
burden of proving differential treatment on the plaintiffs. Plaintiffs
must establish that government policies (in this instance, school
policies) were driven by discrimination. Once the plaintiffs establish
differential treatment, it must next be determined (1) whether the
plaintiff or government must bear the burden of proving the ad-
equacy of the justification for differential treatment and (2) whether
the differential treatment is in fact justified. A law or policy is pre-
sumed unconstitutional unless the government can show that differ-
ential treatment is necessary to achieve some compelling state inter-
est. The test for equal protection cases is strict scrutiny."

Without question, the landmark case involving equity is Brown t\
Board of Education of Topekir* and its subsequent rehearings.
Brown o\erturned the Supreme Court's P/cssi/ i\ Fcryt/so/r 7 deci-
sion by ruling that “in the field of public education the doctrine of
‘separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are
inherently unequal.” Brown relied heavily on the First, Fifth, and
Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. This decision has pro-
foundly affected public education and other areas of public policy
whore the Supreme Court has attempted to adjudicate equal oppor-
tunity.

Equal opportunity includes gender as well as racial issues. The
most significant gender cases in education have involved access. The
importance of education to our democratic society and the relation-
ship of education to our most basic public responsibility were the
grounds on which the Court concluded that the opportunity of an
education, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right
that must be made available to all on equal terms.

/ < 4 62

El'*'- M'.N M<|s 'I'! La-.V. A1« -hS 1 • ,lj A*.'» Afjllv Na’i.! S‘i ; t Oi'S

Special education. In 1988 Supreme Court Justice William
Brennan delivered an opinion in Honiy v . Doe.*' 'Hie judgment
directed California to provide services directly to a disabled child
because a local agency had failed to do so. This ease involved the
“stav put” provision of the 1975 Education of All Handicapped Chil-
dren Act (Public Law 94-142). The provision prohibited states or
local school authorities from unilaterally excluding disabled chil-
dren from the classroom due to dangerous or disruptive conduct
related to their disabilities during a review of their placement. An
earlier case involving the Education of All Handicapped Children
/lr/ was Hendrick Hudson District Board of Education v. Rowley r
Rowley determined that a state must have a policy that assures all
handicapped children the right to a “free appropriate public educa-
tion'’ to be eligible for federal funds. The parents had filed suit asking
that an interpreter be provided for their child. The school had al-
ready provided hearing aids. After lower courts upheld the parents'
argument, the Supreme Court ruled the court of appeals and district
court had misconstrued the requirements imposed by Congress upon
states receiving federal funds.

Two federal district court cases were central to the movement
protecting the rights of disabled children: Pennsylvania Association
for Retarded Children (R.A.R.C.) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylva-
nia and Mills v. Board of Education of District of Columbia /*’
These cases were based on equal protection and due process theo-
ries. The P.A.R.C. case ended with an agreement that provided “ac-
cess to a free public program." Mills provided similar rights to an
even broader category. Cases involving handicapped or disabled
students are among the most widely litigated cases in education law.

Finance. State school finance systems have been challenged in
recent years. Karly attempts to use the W.S. Constitution to resolve
inequities in funding for public schools were largely unsuccessful.
These early attempts focused on the equal protection clause ol the
Constitution: “No state shall deny to any person within its jurisdic-
tion the equal protection of the laws." Lawsuits claiming that a
particular state's school funding formula violated its own state con-
stitutional provision have been more successful. These cases have
been based on the strategy that education funding is not fiscally
neutral. 'Phis strategy was successful in Serrano r. Priest A" wherein

63 / fJ

U,r>A $t,-t W APNt j?

the California Supreme Court found that the state funding system
violated the equal protection clauses of both the U.S. Constitution
and the California State Constitution. The Serrano case was the
impetus for moving this issue to the national agenda.

In San Antonio Independent School District r. Rodriguez y u the
U.S. Supreme Court effectively precluded the use of the federal equal
protection clause as a vehicle for school finance reform. In a five to
four decision, the Court ruled that the Constitution does not prohibit
the government from providing different services in different dis-
tricts. The key to this ruling is that the Constitution protects the
rights of individuals but not school districts. Since Rodriguez , school
finance reform litigation can be found in nearly half of the state court
systems. Systems of allocating state resources for education have
been affected either by the threat or reality of school finance litiga-
tion. v -'

Compulsory attendance. In matters concerning school atten-
dance, two Supreme Court cases are notable. The 1925 Fierce r.
Society of the Sisters of the Holy Names of, Jesus and Mary" ruling
had strong implications for separation of church and state. In this
case, a private school in Oregon had sought relief from a 1922 state
law requiring parents to send their children “to a public school for
the period of time a public school shall be held during the current
year" in the district where the child resided. The law pertained to all
children between the ages of 8 and 16. Based on a precedent estab-
lished in Meyer r. Nebraska, " the Supreme Court noted "the Act of
1922 unreasonably interferes with the liberty of parents and guard-
ians to direct the upbringing and education of children under their
control." The Court added that "rights guaranteed by the Constitu-
tion may not he abridged by legislation which has no reasonable
relation to some purpose within the competency of the state." This
compulsory education case had no major impact on American Indi-
ans because they were not considered citizens of the United States in
1925. In fact, based on voting rights, not all the states considered
American Indians citizens until 1946.

Another landmark decision in compulsory education came in
1972. In Wisconsin r. Voder, 1 ' the Supreme Court ruled that Amish
children could not he compelled to attend school to the age of 16 as
state law required. Testimony pointed to a basic tenet of Amish faith:

/ t >

u v- jo'; Avr

\/A,a ■'A Na'..i Stm u/s

religion pervades all life, and salvation requires living in a church
community apart from worldly influence. The Amish objected to
public secondary schools because the schools emphasized intellec-
tual and scientific accomplishments, competitiveness, worldly suc-
cess, and social life. The conflict between worldly and nonworldlv
values, they argued, would psychologically harm their children. At
issue was the violation of the right to free exercise of religion as a
result of the compulsory' school attendance law. The Supreme Court
reasoned that “a way of life that is odd or even erratic but interferes
with no rights or interests of others is not to he condemned because
it is different.*’ Much of the language in the Yoder case has implica-
tions for American Indians. By replacing the noun Amish with Ameri-
can Indian , the reasoning and subsequent judgment in favor ol the
Amish invites a number of moral and ethical questions regarding the
schooling of American Indians,

As indicated throughout, the Supreme Court’s docket rarely in-
cludes cases with substantial impact for education. For example.
Supreme Court decisions deal with dress or appearance, yet there
are state and federal district court decisions on these topics. This
reflects the Court’s continued efforts to leave the administration of
schools to those officials charged with education and its general
reluctance to get involved in any except the most fundamental con-
stitutional questions. The Supreme Court's Tinker decision (which
protected students* freedom of speech), as in others, included the
following statement: “We express no opinion as to the form of relief
which should be granted.*' This statement is consistent with the
Court's pattern of hearing only the most significant education law
cases. Typically, certiorari u> (or Supreme Court review) of education
law eases is a small portion of the Court's docket. There are currently
no decisions from the Supreme Court specifically referencing the
education of Indian children.

Legislation

Norman T. Oppelt divides the history of Indian education into two
broad periods: the missionary period (1568-1870) and the federal
period (1870-1968). r It is during this second period that the major-
ity of the legislation involving Indian students was passed, f ederal
legislation impacts tlu* education of American Indian students on

66 h .

Linda Suf Wa»nl»

several levels. The following pages summarize 19 federal laws that
provide the legislative foundation of American Indian education:

• Snyder Act (1921)

• Johnson O'Malley Act ( 1934), as amended

• Impact Aid

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965), as amended

• Head Start Program Act { 19 65 ) > as a mended

• Indian Elementary and Secondary School Assistance A ct ( 1 9 68 )

• Indian Education Act (1972)

• Title IX of the Education Amendments ( 1972)

• Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act
(1975), as amended

• Education of All Handicapped Children Act ( 1975) and Indi-
viduals with Disabilities Education Acts, as amended

• Education A mendments (1978)

• Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act { 1978),
as amended

• Indian Child l Velfare Act ( 1 978)

• A ug ust us /'! Hau > kins- Robert I \ Stafford Elementary and Sec-
ondary School Improi \ ement A mendments (1988)

• Carl I). Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Educa-
tion Act (1990)

• Native American Languages Act ( 1990)

• Goals 2000: Educate A merica Act

• Title I X of the Improi Pig A meric * a s Schools A ct ( 1 9 94 )

Snyder Act A* This act granted legislative authorization for the
Indian Office. This office was established to provide social, health,
and educational sen-ices to Indians, specifically those tribes for
whom the United States had no specific treaty obligations. The
language for the establishment of this office is as follows:

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, under the supervision of the
Secretary of the Interior, shall direct, supervise, and expend

such moneys as Congress may from time to time appropriate,
for the benefit, care, and assistance of the Indians throughout
the United States for general support and civilization, includ-
ing education.

In the 1920s Commissioner of Indian Affairs Francis F. Leupp
continued the federal policy of assimilation for American Indians.
By encouraging enrollment of Indian students in public schools, this
policy accomplished two things. First, the overwhelming number of
non-Indian "peers” pressured these children to discard their own
traditions. Second, it reduced the costs of Indian education for the
BIA. To carry out this policy. Congress allocated up to $300,000
annually between 1923 and 1929-

Johnson O’Malley Act A" The Johnson O'Malley Act (JOM),
passed in 1934 and reauthorized in 1991, authorizes the Secretary of
the Interior to contract with a state or territory to provide to Ameri-
can Indians various services, including education. Thus, it is a fund-

ing mechanism for providing schooling to American Indians. The
JOM has attempted to increase enrollment in public schools and
reduce the efforts of BIA education. In states with large populations
of American Indian students, JOM quickly became an added source
of federal funds to school districts. Originally, JOM funds were not
limited to Indian-specific needs, and many schools deposited the
money into their general operating budgets. The actual authority for
spending money remained with the fiscal agents at the local school;
therefore, a consequence of the original legislation, whether in-
tended or unintended, was minimal individual parent input. How-
ever, the current regulations require local Indian parent committee

involvement.

Impact Aid."* Impact Aid laws passed in 1950 and reauthorized
in 1978 and 1991 have been the center of considerable debate over
the years. The passage of Impact Aid legislation in 1950 compen-
sated schools for the education of children living on tax-free federal
lands. Impact Aid monies are grounded in the government-to-gov-
ernment relationship of the United States and federally recognized
tribes. This funding Hows to public school districts impacted signifi-
cantly by the absence of a tax base as the result ot district boundaries
including nontaxable (specifically trust) land. Indian parents have

L S. W<v/;i t:

input into the application processes for Impact Aid and may indi-
vidually or collectively use the formal complaint system in dealing
with public school districts; however, in many areas, public schools
have the ultimate decision-making authority over the usage of these
funds. Amendments in 1978 attempted to add Indian-specific provi-
sions to the monies, holding local schools more accountable to In-
dian tribes and parents of Indian children. A report by a special
Senate subcommittee in 1969 documented misuse of ,JOM and Im-
pact Aid monies. 'This report and others led to passage of the Indian
Education Act of 1972. ”

Elementary and Secondary Education Act.'- To encour-
age parental input into curriculum used with Indian students. Con-
gress added a rider to 1965 legislation designed primarily for public
school education. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act
targets public schools to make curricular reform applicable to Indian
populations. Because education is a state function, public schools
had no obligation to offer programs specifically for Indian children,
even in densely populated school districts. This legislation sought to
encourage more tribal and parental involvement. It began to fund
“special supplementary programs for the education and culturally
related needs of Indian students.”

Head Start Program Act." This act includes children on
federally recognized Indian reservations. It provides formula-driven
federal funding for health, education, nutrition, and other social
services. Head Start programs are among the most successfully ad-
ministered educational programs in Indian country.

Indian Elementary and Secondary School Assistance
Act." This act authorizes tribes to bid for special funding (discre-
tionary aid) for education programs such as demonstration schools
or pilot projects for the improvement of educational opportunities.
The act seeks to involve Indian parents more meaningfully in the
development of educational priorities for their children. The pro-
grams supported by this act are conditionally based on consultation
with Indian parents and approved by Indian parent committees.

Indian Education Act. 1 ' This act was, in part, a result of the
Senate Special Subcommittee on Indian Education s final report,
Indian Education: A National t ‘rayed// A National ( ] Iial/enyc . best

El U- A'lf'N >*'M‘ 1 1 ‘l L iMI'l

,t.. ' Ar.*r v.r an Inp'.vj/Ai as* a Na’.-.i Sm:{ i '•■■is

known as the Kennedy Report. 1 * The act has four major compo-
nents. Part A provides formula funding for public schools with In-
dian children; including a 10 percent set-aside for Indian-controlled
schools. Part B provides direct grants to Indian tribes, organizations,
colleges, universities, state departments of education, and other
nonprofit institutions. Grants are to be used for demonstration sites,
planning and evaluation, and projects designed for American Indi-
ans and Alaska Natives. Part C provides monies for adult education,
and Part D established the Office of Indian Education in the U.S.
Office of Education, a deputy commissioner of Indian education,
and the National Advisory Council on Indian Education.

Title IX of the Education Amendments (1972). ' The first
amendment to t itle V (now known as Title IX) was a special appro-
priation to Part B for Indian professional development at the gradu-
ate level. Other changes included the addition ot gitted and talented
programs, Indian preference for employees, eligibility of BI A schools
for formula grants (originally limited to public schools), and autho-
rization for the BIA director to recommend policy on all programs
for Indians funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

Two other federal statutes, Title IX of the Education Amendments
of 1972 and Section 1983 of the ( 'mil Rights Act of 1964, 1K provide all
students with potentially powerful tools for protection and redress
from sexual harassment and abuse by school employees. The most
notable court ruling on the application of Title IX is the Supreme
Court s 1992 decision in Franklin r. Gwinnett County Public
Schools.'" This is a landmark case because the court entitled a
female high school student who had been subjected to sexual abuse
by a teacher to receive monetary compensation for damages under
Title IX. Under Section 1983, the violation of a student’s rights
evokes protection and substantive due process under the Fourteenth
Amendment. To demonstrate liability the plaintiff must show that
the school knew of a pattern of conduct on the part of the school
official. This is often a difficult standard to meet. Instances of sexual
harassment have been reported more in recent years, and some state
courts have waived statutory time limits on filing claims involving
minors. Administrators and school boards serving populations of
American Indian students would, no doubt, experience the hnancial
responsibility from such a civil action.

I'f.’t 'A St t .WAT'tjt 1 ;

Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance
Act. " The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance
Act (reauthorized in 1991) authorizes tribes to contract with the
federal government to administer schools for Indian children. Sec-
tion 2(b)(3) emphasizes that parental and community control of the
educational process is crucially important to Indian people. Part A,
Education of Indians in Public Schools, addresses parental input in
Section 5(a):

Whenever a school district affected by a contract has a local
school hoard not composed of a majority of Indians, that par-
ents of the Indian children enrolled in the sehool/s affected
shall elect a local committee from among their number. Such
committee shall participate fully in the development, and shall
have the authority to approve/disprove programs to be con-
ducted under such contract/s.

The language of this act underscores Congress's intent to “pro-
mote maximum Indian participation in the government and educa-
tion of Indian people. " %1 While the focus is not education, the act
marks the beginning of an era when Congress began emphasizing
and reestablishing tribal sovereignty. Tribal sovereignty is a prereq-
uisite for the establishment of policies and programs that reflect the
wishes of local communities (e.g., parents in the educational pro-
grams designed for their children).

Education of All IDnulicapped Children Act-’ and the In-
dividuals with Disabilities Education Act (I DKA).‘* These
two acts address all students but have special significance for Ameri-
can Indians. IDEA assures parents of students with handicaps the
right to participate in the assessment and program planning pro-
cesses for their children. For the first time, all parents are partners
with professionals in the decision-making process. Education re-
searchers Eleanor Lynch and Robert Stein have found that language
is a major inhibitor to this shared decision making. Many lan-
guage-minority students are from homes where English, the lan-
guage of Individual Education Programs (1EP), is not spoken. Prob-
lems with facilitating full participation by Indian parents in decision
making about their childrens educational programs have been com-
pounded by the lack of Indian personnel in special education and the

rf 70

£;\l' A?i- ! .\ /•t'iii Jut L/'.V. If.lr’ll- Alu -JjS l< jN' Af/i !*<! ’I A>j/ Ai A*.r A N»!l;t S^'LlOl* 1 '

cultural bias of assessment tools. Appropriate student assessment
and placement into programs are ongoing concerns of Indian educa-
tors. Despite recent changes, a disproportionate number ot Indian
students continue to be identified tor special education classes, for
years, support has been widespread for the notion that minority-
language students are likely to he* slow learners, due either to low
mental ability or disadvantages imposed by their language handicap.
This act is another example of legislation not originally targeted to
the needs of Indian children that has nevertheless had significant
impact.

Congress enacted IDKA, in part, in response to two well-publi-
cized federal court cases: Mills r. Hoot'd of Education of District of
Columbia''' and Pennsylvania Association/)!' Retarded Children v.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania:' 1 ' While these were regional cases,
the decisions had broad implications for students in other areas. In
both cases, the courts found that children with disabilities had been
denied access to public schools because of their disabilities. IDKA
defines the types of disabilities covered and limits coverage to educa-
tionally disabled children. IDKA is the funded mandate in a series of
three laws Congress enacted to protect disabled students. Section
504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1073 and the Americans with Dis-
abilities Act (AD A) of 1990 are antidiscrimination laws that overlap
. to protect the rights of persons with disabilities. Kadi successive law
was more encompassing. All individuals covered under IDKA are
also covered by Section 504 and ADA. However, all individuals who
qualify for Section 504 and ADA coverage may not qualify for special
education under IDKA. IDKA differs from previous legislation be-
cause it requires parents of a disabled child to work with school
officials to shape an educational experience specific to the child.

education Amendments (1978). r Congress passed several
Kducntion Amendments in 1978. One of the riders was directed at
schools operated by the HI A. In response to the increased awareness
in Indian country of the needs of Indian students and the limited
ability of the BIA to respond to local concerns, this rider authorizes
parental involvement by redefining the role of the local school hoard.
Local hoards of BIA schools have more specific authority over gen-
eral decision making at the schools, including a voice in the hiring of
school officials, specifically administrative positions.

1 \

Linda Suf. Warniw

In practice, the authority relinquished to parental school boards
is determined by the local school administrator and/or local school
superintendent (education program administrator). For some
schools, decision making is more participatory than others since
Fiscal accountability still resides with the administrators. While the
intent of the rider was to provide local boards with a larger role in the
control of local schools, it is not guaranteed. The amendment nar-
rowed the focus of the BIA, establishing an official policy of facilitat-
ing “Indian control of Indian affairs in all matters relating to educa-
tion."

Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act.™

The Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978
authorizes Congress to provide funding for higher education institu-
tions controlled by tribal governments. Currently, there are 24 tribal-
government -controlled colleges and 7 other tribal colleges with other
sorts of governing arrangements.

Indian Child Welfare Act (1CWA). W 1 'his act was designed
to protect the integrity of tribes and the heritage of Indian children
by inhibiting the practice of removing these children from their
families and tribes to be raised as non-Indians.*' 0 Under the act. state
courts have no jurisdiction over adoption or custody of Indian chil-
dren domiciling or residing within the reservation of their tribe,
unless some federal law (such as Public Law 83-280, which gave
several states criminal and civil court jurisdiction over Indians)
confers such jurisdiction. The act has been held to preempt a state
rule that would have shifted the domicile of an abandoned Indian
child from that of the parent on the reservation to his would-be
adoptive parents off the reservation/’ 1 As a result of ICWA, state
courts have no jurisdiction over children who are wards of a tribal
court, regardless of domicile or residence. .Jurisdiction of these cases
lies exclusively with the tribe. State courts have some jurisdiction
over adoption and custody of Indian children not domiciling or
residing on their tribes reservation, but this jurisdiction is subject to
important qualifications. For example, in any proceeding for foster
care placement or termination of parental rights, the state court, “in
the absence of good cause to the contrary" and in the absence of
objection by either parent, must transfer the proceedings to tribal
court upon the petition of either parent, the child's Indian custodian,
or the tribe. The tribe tnav decline such a transfer."*

Education and iiif Law: Implications tot? Amt pic an Indian/ Alaska Native Students

While not specifically addressing education, the law reinforces
other legislation. Indian parental rights are, for the most part, subju-
gated to the wishes of the tribe in matters of welfare for a child,
including education. 1 * The primary consideration is the opportunity
for the child to remain cognizant of the culture (and language) to
protect the identity of the group and ultimately, the individual. The
Indian Child Welfare Act came under attack in the 1998 Congress.
The Adoption Promotion and Stability Act 4 contained language
that would seriously weaken the ICWA. The Senate also introduced
similar legislation. The passage of such legislation would reduce
recent efforts to allow more control by tribes in decisions affecting
tribal children.

Augustus F. Hawkins- Robert T. Stafford Elementary
and Secondary School Improvement Amendments The

Augustus F. Hawkins- Robert T. Stafford Elementary and Second-
ary School Improvement Amendments (1988) address the specific
educational needs of Indian communities. It strengthens parental
involvement in Indian schools by authorizing resources. Prior to
these amendments, an Indian school board could contract through
the tribe to operate a school; however, layers of fiscal management
still diverted money from local school operations. This act autho-
rizes the BIA to provide outright grants to tribally controlled schools.
Local school boards have more autonomy to make curricular and
operational decisions.

Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Edu-
cation ActF' This act provides vocational education opportunities
for Indians through competitive, discretionary project grants. Dis-
cretionary funding is often targeted by Congress when budget cuts
are required.

Native American Languages Act. tr On October 30, 1990,
President Bush signed the Native American Languages Act, which
Congress had passed to protect the “status of the cultures and lan-
guages of Native Americans [as] unique." It states the United States
“has the responsibility to act together with Native Americans to
ensure the survival of these unique cultures and languages." 08 Con-
gress makes it a policy of the United States to “preserve, protect, and
promote the rights and freedom of Native Americans to use, prac-
tice, and develop Native American Language." 0 '' Finally, the act

emphasizes that "the right of Native Americans to express them-
selves through the use of Native American language shall not he
restricted in any public proceeding, including publicly supported
educational program (s).’’"°

The implications for Indian educators are obvious. From a gen-
eral administrative perspective, the act advances the policy of Indian
self-determination, particularly as it pertains to the tribal governing
authority. Second, it is a stark reversal of the assimilation practices
that discouraged teaching Native languages.

Goals 2000: Educate America Act.' 1 This act provides funds
for schools as they work to meet the National Education Goals. Set-
aside funds are authorized for B1A and tribal schools. This legisla-
tion connects the U.S. Department of Education, specifically the
Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), to activi-
ties in Indian education. Tribal and federal schools have adopted
goals that meet or exceed the National Education Goals.

Title IX of the Improving America 's Schools Act ( 1994). -
Title IX includes numerous Indian-specific programs, most signifi-
cantly the Formal Grant Program to Local Educational Agencies in
Part A. The formula grant program provides supplemental funds to
local educational agencies to reform current school programs serv-
ing Indian children, thereby better meeting their special needs and
ensuring they can meet state and national education standards.
There are a number of special projects under Title IX as well. These
include grant programs for the development of demonstration
projects to improve achievement of Indian children; professional
development of Indian educators; fellowships for Indian students;
gifted and talented programs; adult education; and grants to tribes
for education, administrative planning, and development. While
these special projects are provided by legislation, they arc not always
included in congressional appropriations.

This summary of legislation is not all-inclusive of legislation that
impacts American Indians, nor does it include all legislation that
impacts education. It is, however, representative of key legislation
and subsequent educational policy affecting American Indian el-
ementary and secondary students. In the absence of Supreme Court
decisions on the rights of American Indian students in schools,
legislation forms a significant base for decision making.

Emk'ahon ano me Law: Imi’iicaiu^ns ior Amhjk'an Ini «an/Ai a:*a Naiivj Shu inis

Conclusions: Indian Education and the Law

Recent data on Indian students in this country show 398,484
American Indian and Alaska Native students attend school (K-12).
About 87 percent attend public schools. Indian tribes and tribal
organizations operate schools that serve about 16,500 students, and
in 1997 the BIA-operated schools serving 27,000 Native students.
Additionally, another 10,352 reportedly attend private schools.'*
Based on these statistics, the vast majority of American Indian stu-
dents attend state-supported schools. As a result, case law impacting
discipline, curriculum, free speech, tort law, equity, special educa-
tion, finance, and compulsory attendance (as reviewed above) has
the most direct effect on these students.

Case law rarely addresses education and even less frequently
concerns Indian students at the local level. Legislation affecting
Indian students often is incorporated in legislation written for all
students, with amendments for American Indians. The section on
legislation reviewed laws intended for all students that include* 1
provisions for Indian students. Further, this section reviewed legis-
lation that targeted American Indian education programs.
J. E. Silverman' 1 asserts that tribal control over education has re-
ceived more federal deference than the interests of other parents in
this country, yet the actual practice of including parents (or tribes) in
decision making is remarkably rare. Indian parents have only re-
cently been provided opportunities to be involved in decisions af-
fecting their children. Even today in hoarding schools, parents typi-
cally acquiesce to the doctrine of in loco parentis. -' Federal schools
tend to route grievances through the federal system, and students
(and parents) have been reluctant to use the federal court system.

In recent years, many states have passed legislation that allows
for the formation of charter schools. Charter school designation has
significant financial implications for Indian schools. Roughly a dozen
states have legislation providing for charter schools, and there ap-
pears to be some backlash in states where Indian schools also have
charter status. Suits addressing these issues are currently in federal
and state lower courts.

Educators need to have a general understanding of education case
law. The language of Supreme Court decisions is useful in evaluating
the parameters of specific situations encountered during the course

Linda Sul Wahniu

of a school day, because these cases are used as precedents for all
subsequent court opinions. Students in schools governed by tribal
contract or grant have the same rights and responsibilities as stu-
dents in state-supported schools.

While there are no Indian education decisions from the Supreme
Court, the education cases decided by the Court apply to all students
regardless of the type of school board governance. Federal legisla-
tion, subsequent amendments, and all regulations and policies con-
tribute to the current environment of Indian education law. The

scope of both case law and legislation, while narrow, provides educa-
tors with a philosophical foundation for decision making. For tribal
schools, the philosophy and goals often include Native culture and
language.

The National Indian Education Association's recent Indian Edu-

cation Impact Week -0 featured Representative Dale E. Kildee, a
Michigan Democrat and cochair of the House Native American Cau-

cus. Representative Kildee, a recognized advocate of Indian rights,
cited a section of the U.S. Constitution referencing the sovereign
status of Indian people. He noted that each congressman is required
to take an oath to uphold the Constitution.

Tribal sovereignty' is often under legislative attack. Advocacy for
Indian children can be found in national organizations, like the
National Indian Education Association, which seek to influence leg-
islation but rarely use the federal court system. The Native American
Rights Fund, a highly visible advocate for Indians in the court sys-
tem, offers a series of monographs and training on education law
designed for tribal education offices.”

Case law and legislation affecting American Indian students will
continue to increase as more American Indian parents and educa-
tors become actively involved in policy and practice at the local level.
Further, the advocacy of these parents and educators at the federal
level continues to impact legislation.

Notes

1. Linda Sue Warner (Comanche) teaches Education Leadership and
Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri-Columhia.

2. From this point, the term American Indian is inclusive of Eskimos,
Aleuts, and other Alaska Natives.

k ; , 76

ElXK'AHON ANl» IHr l_AvV. ImI’UCAHONS K.W AmI«»< AN IN0iAN/AiA$XA NaHvI Sl-'MOIS

3. Joe R.Talaugon to all California schools with American Indian mascot
names and logos. Memorandum, 7 April 1998.

4. U.S. Constitution, amend. 10.

5- A 'eeada u. United States, 463 US 110. 127 (1983).

6. Du ha i me s Law Dictionary (http://wwlia.org/diction.htm) defines
res judicata “as a matter that has already been conclusively decided by a court

7. Arixona r. California , 460 US 605, 626-28 (1983).

8. /Northwest Hands off Shoshone Indians v. I hated States, 324 US 335
(1945).

9. Nations Fanners Union Insurance Company r. ('row Tribe , 471 US
845(1985).

10. Ingraham v. Wright , 430 US 651 (1977).

It. (loss c. Lopez, 419 US 565 ( 1975).

\'l. School District of Ahington Township v . Schempp , 374 US 203 ( 1963).

13. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states, “Congress shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for
a redress of grievances.”

Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment states, “All persons horn or
naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are
citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall
make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

14. Lai/ r. Nichols, 414 US 563 (1974).

15. C Veil Rights Act (1964), 42 USX'. 20()C)d (amended 1986).

16. linker e. Dcs Moines Independent Community School District, 393
US 503 (1969).

17. Tinker , at 511. quoting Burnside r. Byars, supra, at 749.

18. Mcrria/n- 1 1 'chstcr's ( 'ollegiatc Dictionary ( 10th ed.) slates, “A tort is
a wrongful act other than a breach of contract for which relief may be obtained
in the form of damages or an injunction.”

19. Brooks v. Logan, 127 ID 484, 903 l’2d 73 (ID 1995).

20. I tyke r. Folk County School Board, 129 F,3d 560 ( 1 1th Cir 1997).

21. Woodv. Strickland, 420 US 308 ( 1975).

22. .SV/vi , /.vt7v///>///is used when the criterion of classification and differ-
ential treatment is race or ethnicity. The government must justify its policy In-
showing that this test is necessary to the accomplishment of a compelling state
purpose. Kxcept regarding certain affirmative action policies, the government
(school) rarely meets this requirement. Substantial relation is the second
level of this test. When it is admitted or demonstrated government has
classified on the basis of gender, this test places the burden of justification on

7 7 , .

the government. Gender-based classifications are upheld only if the govern-
ment can demonstrate the classifications are substantially related to the
achievement of an important government purpose. The third lecel of the test
is rational basis. Classifications based on- characteristics other than race,
ethnicity, or gender require the rational basis test. This test places the burden
on the plaintiff to show that differential treatment is wholly unrelated to any
legitimate state goal.

23. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka* 347 US 483 (1954).

24. Bless// r. Ferguson, 163 US 537 (1896).

25. 'file equal protection clause does not prohibit policies that discrimi-
nate or segregate purely as an unintended by-product. All intentional dis-
criminatory action is de jure and therefore unconstitutional, but unintended
discrimination is de facto. De facto discrimination is not unconstitutional. For
school officials, answering the following question would determine if they arc
in violation ofthe Fourteenth Amendment: Suppose the adverse effects of this
policy fell on Whites instead of American Indians. Would the decision/policy
be different? If the answer is yes, the policy/decision was made with discrimi-
natory intent. This is the rerersing of //roups test.

26. l/onig. California Superintendent of Bublie Instruction i\ Doc. 484
US 305 (1988).

27. Hendrick Hudson District Board of Education v. Rowley, 458 US 176
(1982).

28. 334 F. Supp. 1257 (K.D. FA 1971), 343 F. Supp. 279 (K.D. FA 1972).

29. 348 F. Supp. 866 (D. DC 1972).

30. Serrano r. Briest. 487 P2d 1241 (1971).

31. San Antonio Independent School District r. Rodrigue/., 411 US 1
(1973).

32. VanSlyke, Tan, and Orland, School Finance Litigation, 9.

33. Bierce v. Society of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary,
268 US 510 (1925).

34. Meyer r. Nebraska, 262 US 390 (1923).

35. Wisconsin r. Voder, 406 US 205 ( 1972).

36 . Duhaime s Lau • Dictionary ( lit t p: // wwl ia .org / diction . h t m ) dell nes a
writ of certiorari as “a form of judicial review whereby a court is asked lo
consider a legal decision of an administrative tribunal, judicial office, or
organization (e.g., government) and decide if the decision has been regular
and completeor if there has been an error of law. For example, a certiorari may
be used to wipe out a decision of an administrative tribunal made in violation
of the rules of natural justice, such as a failure to give the person affected bv the
decision an opportunity to be heard."

37. See Oppelt, Trihally ( 'on trolled Indian ( 'allege.

38. Snyder Act (1921 ). Public Law 67-85.

39. 48 Stal. 596. 25 U.S.C. 452-457.

40. Federally Impacted Aid Areas Act ( 1950). Public Law 81-874 and

S f I 7ft

El'UCAifON and inf Law: Impuca^ons ?c-t? Amw. an In- -an/ Ai as* a N»v<vf Sennas

Public Law 81-815, as amended. Funds provide assistance for operation and
construction of schools.

41. Education Amendments (1972). Public I .aw 92-318, as amended.

42. Elementary and Secondary Education Act ( 1965)- Public I*iw 89-10,
as amended.

43. Head Start Proyram Act { 1965), 42 V.S.C. 105-

44. Indian Elementary and Secondary School Assistance Act (1972).
Title IV of Public Law 92-318.

45. Indian Education Act. T itle IV of Education Amendments (1972).
Public I .aw 92-318. as amended.

46. Senate Special Subcommittee, Indian Education.

47. 20 U.S.C.A. 901 090, as amended; 20 U.S.C.A. 1681-88.

48. C hit Rights Act (1964), 42 H.S.CA. § 1983.

49- Eranklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools, 503 US 60 (1992).

"9. Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. Public
Law 93-638, 1975; Title III, Public Law 100-472, 1988; Title IV, Public Law
103-413, 1994.

51. See II. R. Report No. 1600, 93rd Congress, 1st Sess 1 (1974).

52. Education of All Handicapped t 'hildren Act ( 1975). Public Law 94-

142.

53 'Pile original Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ( Public I .aw
101-476) was reauthorized in 1997 as Public Law 105-17.

54. Lynch and Stein, ‘ Parent Participation by Kthnicitv," 105-11.

55. Mills v. Hoard of Education of District oft 'olumbia. 348 F. Supp. 866
(1). DC 1972).

56. Pcnnsy/i ‘ania Associationfor Retarded t 'hildren r. Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania , 343 F. Supp. 279 (K.l). PA 1972).

57. Public Law 95-561, as amended.

58. Public Law 98-192, as amended.

59. Indian Child Welfare Act{ 1978). 25 L \S.C 1903.

60. Compare with Wakefield v. Little Liyht . 276 MI) 333, 347 A2d 288
(1975).

61. Matter of Adoption of Halloway, 732 P2d. 962 (Utah 1986).

62. 25 C.S.C.A. §19ll(b). States are required to give tribal adoption and
custody orders full faith and credit.

63. See Thompson, “Protecting Abused Children."

64. Adoption Promotion and Stability Avl. ILK. 3268. Also see Indian
Child Welfare Act Amendments ( 1977). ILR. 1082 and Senate Bill 569.

65. Auyustus E. Hawkins- Robert T. Stafford Elementary and Secondary
Sclu ml Improvement Amendment s{ 1988), Public Law 100-297, as amended.

66. Public Law 101-392.

r . *

Linda Sup Waunip

67. Title I of Public Law 101-477, Tn bally Controlled Community College
Reauthori/.ation Act (l 990 ) .

68. Ibid., 1153.

69. Ibid., 1155.

70. Ibid., 1155-56.

7 - Goals 2000: Relocate America Act, 20 USX'. 5843.

72. 20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq., Public I*»w 103-382.

73. See U.S. Department of the Interior, Fingertip Facts.

74. Silverman, “Miner’s Canary," 1019-46.

75. Briscoe, “Legal Background,” 24-31.

76. National Indian Kducation Association, “A 7AM Co-hosts” 17.

77. Seethe Native American Rights Pund Website: http://www.narf.org/
ed uca t ion/ed neat i onlaw.h t in

Bibliography

Briscoe, L. S. “The Legal Background of in loco parentis as Applied to the
Kducation of Indian Children.” Emergent Leadership 4(2): 24-31 (1980).

Lynch, Kleanor W., and Robert C. Stein. “Parent Participation by Kthnicity: A
Comparison of Hispanic, Black and Anglo Families. ” Exceptional Children
54(2): 105-11(1987).

National Indian Kducation Association (NIKA). “NIKA Co-hosts First Indian
Kducation Impact Week.” NIFA Newsletter , Spring/Sunnner 1998, 17.

Oppelt, Norman T. The Trihally Controlled Indian College: The Beginnings of
Self-Determination in American Indian Education. Tsaile, AZ: Navajo Com-
munity College Press, 1990.

Senate Special Subcommittee on Indian Kducation. Indian Education: A Na-
tional Tragedy, A National ('Italic.. ge. 9 1st Congress, 1st sess., 1969. S.
Kept. 91-501.

Silverman, .J. K. “The Miner’s Canary: Tribal Control of American Indian
Kducation and the First Amendment.” Fordham Urban Law Journal 19
(1992): 1019-46.

Thompson, K. “Protecting Abused Children: A Judge’s Perspective on Public
I -aw Deprived Child Proceedings and the Impact of the Indian Child Welfare
Acts. "American Indian Law Review 15(1): 1-1 14 (1990).

U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of indian Kducation Programs. Finger-
tip Facts. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, 1997.

VanSlvke, Dore, Alexandra Tan, and Martin Orland. School Finance Litiga-
tion: A Review of Key ( 'uses. Washington, DC: The Finance Project, 1994.

Warner, Linda Sue. “The Legal Framework for Parental Involvement in Indian
Kducation.” Paper presented at the aim ini meeting of the American Kduca-
tional Research Association, New Orleans. April 1994. KRIC Document
Reproduction Service No. KD 369 641.

Chapter 4

Culturally Appropriate Curriculum

A Research-Based Rationale

TaK.-VI KAN YaZZIK 1

T o clarify our purposes and strengthen our approaches to school-
ing Native youth, education researchers and practitioners have
long advocated adopting a culturally appropriate curriculum.
Such an approach uses materials that link traditional or cultural
knowledge originating in Native hnmp life and community to the
curriculum of the school/' Deeply embedded cultural values drive
curriculum development and implementation and help determine
which subject matter and skills will receive the most classroom
attention. This chapter examines theoretical and practical research
studies that support and inform the development of culturally ap-
propriate curricula for American Indian children in K-12 classrooms.

Education and Culture

Donald Oliver and Kathleen Ocrshman observe, “Knowing is said
to be the result of learning which comes about as a type of transfer of
information from the outside world of nature to the individual self."
They suggest that, in Western Kuropean thought, this learning and
teaching relationship is a “knower-known" dualism. Oliver and

TAWAJf AN Ya//1[

Gershman consider this view of education problematic because it
implies a separation between what is known and the person who
holds the knowledge about it. This implied separation negates the
nature and “most basic understanding of our being .” 3 According to
Oliver and Gershman, every individual’s culture functions as a per-
ceptual lens, shaping a unique worldview. Culture cannot be sepa-
rated from everyday experiences through processes; it influences
social, political, and intellectual activities .' 1

Jerome Bruner adds that “education is a major embodiment of a
culture’s way of life, not just preparation for it.” In other words, if
Indigenous agriculture, jazz music, Broadway theater productions,
tribal courts, and medical research are all embodiments of culture,
so is schooling. He captures beautifully what is hidden in the struggle
to rationalize a culturally relevant curriculum as he links learning
and thinking to how cultural knowledge is lived out. According to
Bruner, “[It] is culture that provides the tools for organizing and
understanding our worlds in communicable ways .” 5

While these scholars have linked culture and education theoreti-
cally, Oscar A. Kawagley has written about the deep influence and
connectedness of cultural knowledge with the kind of learning in
which Yupiaq people (southwestern Alaska) traditionally engage.
Culture and knowing are inextricably connected in all aspects of
daily life. Thus education is embedded in who Yupiaq people are and
how they behave and communicate. Ultimately these relationships
have a bearing on the survival of the people/'

What Is a Curriculum?

There are many approaches to defining a curriculum, but Wilma
Longstrect and Harold Shane suggest that a curriculum can encom-
pass a variety of activities: selecting who should be educated; setting
desirable goals for education; choosing appropriate content; and
deciding how content should be gathered, organized, developed,
taught, and evaluated. But, who are the people engaged in these
tasks? The answer for many schools is a team of teachers working
with an outside consultant, often isolated from the rest of the school.
Afterwards, however, teachers are expected to implement the cur-
riculum/

<i \

Cuuu&auy Appbcwiaie Gjimic.uium: A Remarch-Baseu Rahonau

The picture becomes more complicated as we search for a clearer
understanding of what the creators of a curriculum understand it to
he. Part of the task is to acknowledge the interrelationships among
learning, teaching, and curriculum. Another part is developing bet-
ter methods for transmitting that knowledge in preservice or in-
service teacher education.

An investigation of theories guiding development of a culturally
appropriate curriculum will help us understand more about the
multiple links connecting curricula with learning and teaching. By
examining these theories, we begin to uncover, the underlying phi-
losophies and ideologies embedded in the educational goals set by
curriculum planners for Native communities.

This chapter is organized into five sections: historical roots, theo-
retical frameworks, curriculum development curriculum practice
and implementation, and implications for educational research and
practice.

Historical Roots

Through the first half of this century, the ideology of assimilation
guided curriculum development for American Indian education.
American Indian students endured a series of forced introductions
to a new “civilized" culture.” For decades, they tried to make sense of
what they learned in history, math, and reading lessons (including
the values and morals embedded in text) while living in a separate
society. Carol Locust describes the costs of this policy:

Discrimination against persons because of their beliefs is the
most insidious kind of injustice. Ridicule of one's spiritual
beliefs or cultural teachings wounds the spirit, leaving anger
and hurt that may he masked by a proud silence. American
Indians experience this discrimination in abundance for the
sake of their traditional beliefs, especially when such beliefs
conflict with those of the dominant culture’s educational sys-
tems.''

Efforts to provide an education that is more respectful of Ameri-
can Indian culture have run hot and cold in the United States. The
first discussion that legitimized cultural considerations in Bureau of
Indian Affairs ( HI A) school curricula began with the release of the

T At; A Jt A\ Y A/Y f

Meriam Report in 1928. The very first paragraph of the report's
section on education included this statement:

The most fundamental need in Indian education is a change in
point of view. Whatever may have been the official governmen-
tal attitude, education for the Indian in the past had proceeded
largely on the theory’ that it is necessary to remove the Indian
child as far as possible from his home environment; whereas
the modern point of view in education and social work lays
stress on upbringing in the natural setting of home and family
life. The Indian educational enterprise is peculiarly in need of
the kind of approach that recognizes this principle; that is, less
concerned with a conventional school system and more with
the understanding of human beings. ,n

In this report, the researchers discussed how the U.S. government
had appropriated education policy and practice to transform Ameri-
can Indian people and societies. This historical document represents
the first official recognition of the essential roles Native families and
cultures play in the learning process. The more than 70 years that
have passed since the Meriam Report have brought increased under-
standing about cultural considerations in curriculum, although not
without occasional setbacks. As we approach a new century, educa-
tors of Native students continue to work toward improving educa-
tional delivery and practice. Our histories help us to see the distance
we have come, while we look to current education research for help
in making informed decisions about the future of education.

Given this reality, what does research tell us about curricula?
What theories underpin cultural considerations in the education of
American Indian learners today? For more recent views on how to
make a curriculum more effective, I will review theories and re-
search studies that show various ways culture affects student aca-
demic performance. Specifically, I will review the works of Frederick
Krickson, Susan Philips, and Henry T. Trueba. These studies dis-
close some of the ways to view the connections among culture,
curricula, and instructional practice in American Indian education."

CmiuiMiv Ai'puo* , w>\ii CL'W"V_i'u‘M. A Rt -\in ><-Ba-.{ i • Rak >nai t

Theoretical Frameworks

Modes of linguistic interactions. Erickson argues there is a
difference between how majority and minority students interact
linguistically and cognitively. His position is not that one type of
linguistic interaction is superior over another, rather students may
reach similar understandings via different cognitive and linguistic
modes of investigation. He suggests learning is complicated by dif-
ferent modes of interaction, which, if negative, can lead to distrust.
Trust— a major component in behavioral interactions— can grow when
teachers understand linguistic aspects of their students’ cultural
backgrounds. Erickson thinks it is important for teachers to find
ways to obtain and build trust instead of emphasizing cultural differ-
ences. He suggests that a culturally responsive curriculum (includ-
ing pedagogy) can transform routine educational practice. ’Phis view
is supported by several studies conducted in Native communities
and education settings by other researchers. This growing body of
research suggests that better learning occurs when teachers trans-
form their educational practices and the curriculum reflects the
home culture from which children conic.’*'

Supportive learning environments. Researchers Trueba and
Philips also stress the importance of culture as a contributing factor
to student performance and positive engagement in the classroom.
Culturally appropriate relationships ground children in supportive
environments, which help them contend with non-Native cultural
values embedded in the school curriculum. Trueba advises educa-
tors not to lose sight of the fact that many minorities succeed in
school without losing their cultural identities or assimilating; there-
fore, teachers should seriously question theories that encourage
assimilation or even partial acculturation. Trueba stresses that

Conditions for effective learning are created when the rule of
culture is recognized and used in the activity settings during
the actual learning process. Ultimately, cultural congruence is
not only part of the appropriate conditions . . . for learning
effectively. At the heart of academic success, and regardless ot
the child’s ethnicity or historical background, an effective learn-
ing environment must he constructed in which the child, espe-
cially the minority child, is assisted through meaningful and

culturally appropriate relationships in the internalization of
the mainstream cultural values embedded in our school sys-
tem. 1 '

Trueba recognizes that many mainstream values are embedded in
the school system, some of which are valued by Native educators,
parents, and communities. Educators *v«nt Native children to suc-
ceed academically. To accomplish this, Trueba argues children need
to be more aware of the values embedded in the acts of learning and
teaching in American schooling. Trueba is speaking of a bicultural
approach that provides a setting that clearly fosters mainstream
values yet offers equal recognition of the contributions home cul-
tures bring to the learning situation. Trueba's work informs how
others might acknowledge the structure of schools. He does not
suggest an assimilation of values; on the contrary, he says the home
culture is needed in the classroom to facilitate academic achieve-
ment. Minority children need to be able to internalize both 'heir own
culture and that of the school.

Communication and interaction styles. Philips's research
in the Warm Springs Indian Community focused on culture and its
relationship to classroom communication and interaction styles.
She compared the interaction of Warm Springs children with Anglo
middle-class modes of interaction. The children were reluctant to
interact with their teachers and engage with academic content. She
views this reluctance as a hindrance in the learning process. Without
critical engagement with the curriculum and between teacher and
learner, acquisition of knowledge is interrupted and learning is
stunted. Philips's research in 1972 and 1983 found that Warm Springs
students had been eneulturated in their community, which influ-
enced their communication style in the classroom.”

Other researchers have emphasized important differences be-
tween students and teachers in nonverbal behavior. These studies
show that communication differences may bias teachers' interpreta-
tions of their students' classroom communication and behavior and
lower teachers' expectations of student academic performance. 1 ■
The educational research literature includes numerous anecdotal
reports, position essays, discussions, and debates about how the
culture of the dominant society may be incongruent with, conflict
with, or impede the schooling of American Indian students. The

teacher may infer that the child who is listening with averted
eyes may be bored, confused, or angry. 1 *'

Erickson pinpoints what research suggests is the source of cultural
conflict in American Indian education. There exists a salient differ-
ence in how American Indian students, parents, and communities
conduct social and learning interactions in home and in school.
These different modes of interacting are not usually described in
information available to teachers and school personnel who interact
academically with Native students. Informed by such research knowl-
edge, teachers might stand a better chance of creating ways to en-
gage students in learning content material. Better informed teachers
and curriculum developers might also find better assessment activi-
ties and measures to monitor student learning of content material.
Native parents and communities could be very helpful if included in
the curriculum and assessment development process.* 1

Bruce A. Birchard studied the perspectives of community mem-
bers, parents, students, and teachers with regard to Native language,
history, and values taught in school. Many of the participants in the
study felt some aspects of the tribal heritage and culture should be
taught in school; however, most agreed the purpose of a full educa-
tion is to prepare Indian youth for employment and successful lives
in American society. From Birchard’s study, we learn that a curricu-
lum for Native children needs to address the expectations of both the
Native community and larger society. For example, it is helpful for
students to learn in situations where they are not isolated from the
larger society, i.e., the curriculum must meet state requirements.
Meeting these requirements does not necessarily exclude creative or
culturally appropriate curriculum and instruction.-* 1

James E. Biglin and Jack Wilson, in their study of Navajo and
Hopi parental attitudes toward Indian education, found the same
attitudes reported in the Birchard study. Barents in this study em-
phasized “inclusion of the Navajo/Hopi language [as] most impor-
tant in the curriculum. “ Similarly, C. L. Steele conducted a study
with parents to identify and organize teachable Mohawk cultural
content.”

A 199 1 study to develop an inquiry-based curriculum found that
Navajo parents agreed their children “need the skills and knowledge
for full adult participation in the off- reservation economy." Although

Cuuurauv Ar propri a: f Cursk'uium: A RrsFA&at-BASfD Rajionam

the parents disagreed about the best means to achieve this, they were
in agreement, regardless of approach, that the school curriculum
should reflect Navajo values. Most teachers held the belief that
Navajo children “won’t respond to questioning!” However, one
teacher encouraged the students to participate actively by asking
questions that incorporated social knowledge from their backgrounds.
The researchers attributed this increase in verbal participation to
the familiarity and relevance of the content to students’ lives. Navajo
students clearly felt comfortable with a classroom dialogue that
captured and honored their multiple cultural experiences. 21

Not only do these studies demonstrate the importance of culture
and language in schools serving American Indian students, they
indicate that American Indian parental input can assist schools in
refining curricula to become more culturally relevant and responsive
to students. Relevance of curriculum content seems important to
tribal groups, particularly since it is likely to impact academic suc-
cess. Trueba explains why culturally relevant materials and interac-
tions enhance learning for minority students in unfamiliar class-
room situations:

The transition from assisted to independent performance must
be anticipated by the parent, teacher, or more knowledgeable
peer, and the assisted performance prior to transition requires
(1) effective communication between child and adult/peer, (2)
shared cultural values and assumptions, and (3) common goals
for activities. . . . Gradually the child understands an activity
and meaning and consequences of the activity. Through cultur-
ally and linguistically appropriate interaction, the child then
develops a suitable cognitive structure that is continuously
revised with new experiences and feedback. 21

Based on her work with Yavapai curriculum development, Teresa
McCarty suggests culturally relevant curriculum development places
importance on community input and delivery of cultural topics. Her
work further supports the need for parental involvement in this
process. McCarty's applied research goal with Yavapai and Navajo
school programs was to revitalize culture by tapping into language
learning. 2 '’

Other studies have shown the role Native language plays in con-
cept development. Duane Schindler and David Davison believe “more

?! Ur-

attention needs to be paid to the structure [and] thought processes of
the native language when that language is not English/' It is the
“cognitive structures of the native language with which [American
Indian students] attempt to construct English language analyses/'
even in cases when particular students may not retain their Native
language. For example, Schindler and Davison find that “school
mathematics is typically presented using the English language and
an English language method of processing/’ Schindler and Davison
suggest that, to address problems in translation, the Crow language
bilingual education programs could minimize problems through an
“emphasis on teaching Crow speaking children the interrelation-
ships of the mathematics terms and concepts in English and Crow/'* 1 ’
Judith Hakes and colleagues conducted a curriculum project to
improve the education of Aeoma i.od Laguna Pueblo children. The
educational programs in place were not culture based, and an as-
sessment at the beginning of the project found that educational
experiences were inadequate. Students indicated the existing cur-
riculum lacked cultural relevance. Factors that contributed to the
new project’s success were teacher training, cultural relevance, and
community involvement. When piloted, the new culturally relevant
curriculum reportedly fostered academic improvements.*'

Educators may be unaware of the complex processes by which
American Indian students adapt to school environments. While re-
search indicates parental interest for inclusion of culture in the
school curriculum, how and whether to teach tribal cultural knowl-
edge in schools remains controversial. These are philosophical ques-
tions that educational communities, students, parents, teachers, and
administrators will have to consider, particularly since a majority of
the BI A schools have applied to become charter or community-based
schools .* 8

Despite growing evidence and beliefs that a curriculum should
reflect the culture it senes or, at least, the learning needs of stu-
dents, Jerry Lipka warns about the difficulties of developing a cul-
turally appropriate curriculum, especially when attempting to use
the community as a resource. Lipka’s six-year case study reveals that
Bavuq (a factitious name) community educational concerns are not
always focused on the traditional aspects of culture, nor should they
be. Lipka's work suggests curriculum development interests should

i (/;■

CjiUwauv Owrio. v: A R[ ap>-»i-Ba<K' Rm nau

not bo limited to traditional Native culture but should include the
local climate and politics in which Native youth live. For example,
educators might ask how the economic climate of the time affects the
lifestyles and livelihood of the people. A successful curriculum devel-
oped for the Bayuq reflects community issues related to the Alaska
Native Chii/us Settlement Act {NHCSn\). Lipka stresses that a cultur-
ally relevant curriculum emerging from school and community rela-
tions is "more complicated and subtle than simply adding curricu-
lum that is culturally relevant.""'

Sandra Stokes's work with the Menominee determined. “Although
Menominee values would be an integral component of the new
curriculum, there was a widespread agreement that the children on
the Menominee reservation needed to become cognizant of the val-
ues other than their own as well as how the Menominee values fit
into the concept of values in general.’’ 1 "

Lipka cautions curriculum developers to consider the following
challenges:

• establishing trust in situations where tension between school
and community is common;

• overcoming assumptions that the school or university knows
what is best for the students and community it senes;

• dealing with controversies arising from development of cultur-
ally relevant materials, discussion, and knowledge that may be
tied to traditional rituals:

• encouraging the community to use the school or university as a
resource, not the other way around;

• involving students in timely community efforts such as debates
on land rights or Native sovereignty issues, all of which can
supplement and even enhance state-required course content.

Lipka s study further demonstrates how even gathering informa-
tion about culture can conflict with Native life and social rules. For
example, Lipka quotes a Yup'ik student researcher, “We talked about
how the elders should be approached, knowing full well that it is
sometimes difficult to conduct interviews since direct questioning of
elders is often perceived as inappropriate behavior." Kdueators need
this type of information when working in communities where sinti-

V3 j (J-*

Ya ,7.v

lar principles of communication are fundamentally a part of inter-
viewing community members about cultural knowledge."

Despite a wide array of curricula related to American Indian
cultures, most existing literature presents information about how to
learn about Indians rather than how to implement a culturally
appropriate curriculum. Researchers have established the need for
culturally relevant curricular materials: however, they have done so
while a majority of the materials have been widely distributed with-
out appropriate cautions. For example, what may work well for
Native Hawaiians may not work for Navajo. The findings of Lynn
Vogt and colleagues remind educators serving Indian students of the
vast differences among Native groups and cultures. These differ-
ences represent an important reason why teachers must take care
not to generalize research findings to the Native communities in
which they work. w

Research focusing on links between culture and curricula indicate
that individual tribal cultures are apart from the culture of the larger
American society, and distinct in their own right. If gaining in-depth
and comprehensive knowledge is the goal of education, then learn-
ing about tribal cultures only as they relate to the history and priori-
ties of White American culture underrepresents the parallel but
separate knowledge systems of Indian peoples and the many unac-
knowledged contributions tribal cultures have made and continue to
make to the whole society.

Clearly, developing a culturally appropriate curriculum is com-
plex and difficult, and continues to be influenced by our inherited
values and ideologies.

Curriculum Practice and Implementation

To serve Native students better, teachers of American Indian
children must make a conscious effort to match materials and in-
structional strategies to the values and ideologies of their students.
Stokes suggests that teachers who actively and critically engage in
curriculum development may be particularly effective in carrying
out appropriate instructional and assessment procedures. Instead of
having a curriculum imposed on them, teachers can claim ownership
by considering how educational reform can happen from inside the
classroom.''

Ci'UU’/auy Awmowmu OufiQlClHuM! A Rf?[ arch- Base p Rationau ___

As John W. Tippeconnic III asserts, “Without question, the most
important relationship within the American educational system de-
velops between teacher and student." Researchers have described
methods and programs that prepare teachers to teach Indian chil-
dren and ways in which teachers demonstrate effectiveness in the
classroom. Affective qualities, rather than skills or academic prepa-
ration, seem to characterize effective teachers in the research litera-
ture. Studies indicate that teachers who sene Native students effec-
tively are informal, are caring and warm, give up authority, and have
and show respect for the students/ - ’

Qualities that make for effective instruction in Native schools are
generally identified but marginally understood. The next step is to
create consciousness and deeper understanding of the underlying
philosophies of institutions where teachers learn about effective
practice. Many teachers are trained in colleges and universities lo-
cated at a distance from reservations and urban communities where
Native culture exists. As students of culture, teachers engage in
course work in the humanities, anthropology, religion, social sci-
ences, math, science, and education, which taken together constitute
a curriculum. This knowledge frames how teachers will view Ameri-
can Indian students' learning and lives. Because of this, the discus-
sion on appropriate curriculum development should examine the
ideologies teachers have internalized during their own schooling
and will take with them to schools serving American Indian children.
Doing this well requires a careful investigation of teacher education
programs of study, teacher observation and reflection on their own
practice as cultural workers, and a reassessment of teacher educa-
tion curricula .upon which future teachers will base their instruc-
tional approaches. 1 '’

Implications for Educational Research and Practice

Given the historical foundations of American Indian education
and ultimately the purpose of schooling American Indian children,
the importance of a culturally appropriate (or responsive) curricu-
lum cannot be denied. Educational researchers have established
strong evidence to support inclusion of Native knowledge and lifewavs
in the K-12 classroom (with the help of Native parents and commu-
nities) to create a quality educational experience for Native students.

1 i \L

T ADA A \ V A 4 \ 7 ii

We know that the curriculum guiding teacher practice makes a
difference in the academic lives of students. Language, tradition,
and histories ot a people shape how and what we learn and who we
are to become as intellectual, political, and social beings. Donald
Oliver and Kathleen Gershman point to an unconscious connection
between what is known and the holder of that knowledge, the knower.
It is this relationship that becomes essential in the act of teaching.
The known, the curriculum, should not be separated from the knower.
the teacher. 11 ’

Research in schools serving Native communities has consistently-
demonstrated the importance of culture in the learning process.
Equally important is a sense of ownership — a kind of belonging, a
familiarity with what is being taught. For Native people, oral tradi-
tions are important, language is important, social relationships are
important. As time takes Native society away from the immediate
and detrimental effects of the boarding school era, there is still a
need to keep a conscious watch over the progression of education as
well as how educators view curricula, practice, and the students who

are affected by them.

More research is needed on the effects of culturally appropriate
curriculum on achievement, as measured by authentic or alternative
measures. Rough Rock Demonstration and Kickapoo Nation schools
have showcased how culture and language produce a positive rela-
tionship with higher academic performance. 1 ' More schools need to
demonstrate this correlation. In addition to linking culturally appro-
priate curricula to assessment, further study is needed about how
teachers define and implement a culturally appropriate curriculum.

American Indian students attend various types of schools: public,
BIA-funded (boarding and day, grant, and contact), charter, private
otf- reservation, rural, and urban. American Indian students in these
environments are bombarded with a multitude of potentially delim-
iting factors including, but not limited to. language, majority social-
ization practices, and values. It is difficult to say to what degree each
factor impacts a student’s ability to adapt to the curriculum and
learning environment. Ogbu suggests some individuals come to ac-

cept a role in the larger society not defined by their own culture (this
being the precise reason successful students are inclined to adapt).
Donna Deyhlcs and Dennis Melnerney and Karen Swisher s re-

1 r j v 96

Cuuuwmi^ Aomw’mak Cu»«*cuium: A Pt <1 *qk h-Base d Pahonai e

search emphasizes that individual perceptions of and motivation to
complete school extend beyond influences of cultural background.
Theoretical and applied research focusing on curricula and Native
education over the past 25 years v evea!s that culture influences
teaching and learning. We can assume there is a direct relationship
among culture, curriculum, and learning in American Indian school-
ing experiences. But to what degree? We do not know. :w

Educational research appears to lack primary research that tar-
gets contemporary issues in American Indian education such as the
educational experiences of urban Indian cultures/** Cultural consid-
erations in American Indian education go far beyond culturally ap-
propriate curricula; they reach into the hearts of Indian youth, who
have to sift through what is taught to find themselves, their roles,
and eventually the purpose of education.

Gaps in the research reveal questions and debates to be further
considered: Should we use Native languages to teach concepts and
values of the dominant American culture? Should we teach students
how to learn in ways valued by American society for the sole purpose
of improving academic gains as measured by standardized tests?
Finally if we, as Native people, are truly going to determine for
ourselves the goals of education, we need to continue engaging in
careful consideration of how Native children become successful and
active members of individual tribal societies as well as the larger
society. There is an inherent view of how Native youth perceive
themselves and their roles in two societies; educators cannot lose
sight of it. Does this mean, as Ogbu suggests, that as involuntary
minorities, American Indian students accept the American system
and assimilate? Or can American Indian students succeed academi-
cally, as Truoba suggests, without losing their sense of identity and
the culture in which it is deeply rooted? These questions need fur-
ther thought and discussion in the schools, in the community, and
within and among societies. Improved educational opportunities
can he and are realized by Indian people conducting and building
educational programs and curricula for their own people. John
Chilcott writes, “The solution to accommodation must lie within the
ethnic population itself rather than the school." Indian educators
and researchers are addressing some of the concerns and questions
that Native communities and people want answered."'

t?; i (jo

Tapajean Ya//ie

The link between curricula and culture is conceptualized differ-
ently by diverse populations. Each community, school, and tribe
needs to establish its own definition and direction for how culture
will play a role in the education of its youth. Our own communities
can make a difference in the selection of research topics and the
influence educational research will have on instruction, curricula,
and educational programs. With community-directed purpose, re-
search can presumably have a positive impact for Native students.

The extant research evidence demonstrates that American Indian
students are not culturally disadvantaged or deficient but are subject
to factors beyond their control that impact learning. A powerful
factor affecting performance is the schools' lack of attention to meet-
ing the needs of Native students. Because of the likelihood that

Native societies will continue to change in response to technology
and greater exposure to European American values and beliefs,
educators are reminded that use of published works needs to be
continuously investigated, challenged, and rethought. It is impos-
sible that American Indian students are not affected by the instant
and ever-ready exchange of information. We can assume that media
and exposure to other cultures are strong influences on how cur-
ricula are developed and how Native children come to incorporate
new information into what they already know . 11

Evelyn Jacob and Cathie Jordan remind educators that although
researchers have identified cultural discrepancies between the school
performance of European American students and many ethnic mi-
nority students, dialogue has been limited about processes of engag-
ing in appropriate reform. * J There is already a wealth of knowledge
with regard to cultural considerations for teaching, learning, and
curriculum development. The question now is where do we go from
here? What can research and current practice in schools tell us about
the current situation in which American Indian students find them-
selves? This question can only be answered by carefully examining
past research and practice that emphasize culture in curricula, and
looking critically at how knowledge is defined by varying societies
and education agents. A culturally appropriate curriculum is the
building block to achieving a challenging, relevant, thought provok-
ing, and most importantly responsive education for Native children
in American schools.

« C . .

A Ri j.. L

Notes

1. Tarajean Yazzie ( Navajo) is n doctoral student in the Harvard Graduate
School of Kd neat ion I .earning and Teaching Program. She would like to thank
Karen tun ton Swisher and .John Tippcconnic 111 tor their editorial support
and patience. She would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers who
provided careful reviews and thoughtful suggestions.

2. Sec “Constructing, Failure and Maintaining Cultural Identity. 24- 27;
Mcliierney and Swisher. "Kxploring Navajo Motivation. 28-51; McQuiston
and B rod! "Structural and Cultural Conflict. "48-58: Philips. The Invisible
Culture ; and Spang. “Fight Problems in Indian Hducation.*’ 1-4*

3. Oliver and Gershman, "Knowing as Participant.” 69.

4. The term culture, in the education research reviewed tor this chapter,
is used looselv to encompass a wide array ot behav iors associated with any
particular group of individuals. Lungstreel. in Aspects of Ethnicity, provides
a thorough explanation ot behaviors that demonstrate belonging to a particu-
lar group of people. She carctully discusses aspects ol ethnicity as verbal
communication, nonverbal communication, orientation modes, social value
patterns, and intellectual modes. In this chapter, culture refers to any or all of
these "aspects of ethnicity.” When appropriate, specific behaviors will he
highlighted. Native language, for example, is the locus ot many cultural
education programs.

5- Bruner. The Culture oj Education. 3.

6. See Kawagiey, .1 Yupiaq Worldview.

7. See l.ongstreet and Shane. Curriculum for a Xcir Millennium
(Needham Heights: Allyn & Bacon. 1993).

8. See Adams. “Fundamental Considerations, 1-28; llamley, “Cultural
Genocide in the Classroom": Lomawaima. “Fducating Native Americans”;
Komawaima, “The Unnatural History of American Indian Hducation"; and
Soto. I.anyuaye, Culture and Tower

9. l.oeust. “Wounding the Spirit.” 315.

10. Institute for Government Research, i'he Emblem of Indian Adminis-
tration, 340-

11. See Hricksmi. “Transformation and School Success,” 335-50: Philips.
“Participant Structures and Communicative Competence 4 ': Philips, Invisible
('u/turc\ and Henry T. Trueba. “Culturally Based Kxplanntions ol Minority
Students* Academic Achievement.” 270-87.

12. See Krickson, “Transformation and School Success”; Philips, “ Partici-
pant Structures 44 ; Philips, Invisible t'idfurt , \ Grcenbauni and Urccnbaum,
“(’ultural Differences, Nonverbal Regulation, ami Classroom Interaction. 10-
33: Van Ness. “Social Control and Social Organization": and Cleary and
Peacock. ( \ dice ted 1 1 isdom.

13. Trueba. “Culturalh Based F.xplanalions." 282.

14. See Philips. “Participant Structures. ”

wj » n

T'VMjI AN Ya/Ji[

15. See Greenbaum. "Nonverbal Differences in Communication Style/'
101-15; Greenbaum and Greenbaum, "Cultural Differences '; Nlohatt and
Erickson, "Cultural Differences in Teaching Styles"; Philips, "Participant
Structures”; and Philips, fn visible Culture.

16. See Deyhle, "Constructing Failure”; Jacob and Jordan, "Moving to
Dialogue,” 259-61; McQuiston and Brod, "Structural and Cultural Conflict”;
Danielle Sanders, "Cultural Conflicts," 81-89; Spang. "Eight Problems”;
Swisher and Deyhle, "The Styles of Learning Are Different," I- 14; and Wright,
Hirlinger, and England, The Politics of Second Generation Discrimination in
American Indian Education.

17. Butterfield, "The Development and Use of Culturally Appropriate
Curriculum,” 50. See also Gipp and Fox, “Promoting Cultural Relevance," 58-
64; Kawagley, Yupiaq Worldview, Skinner, "Teaching through Traditions";
Worrest, "Curriculum Development at Pretty Eagle School”; Youpa, Hpaloose,
and Tharp, "Family and Community Involvement"; and Stokes, "Curriculum
for Native American Students," 576-84.

18. McQuiston and Broil, "Structural and Cultural Conflict,” 29; Ogbu,
"Variability in Minority School Performance," 330. Ogbu categorizes minori-
ties in the United States into two groups, voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary
minorities generally enter their minority status as immigrants, whereas
involuntary minorities, such as African Americans and American Indians,
enter their status under circumstances forced upon them.

19. Erickson, ‘Transformation and School Success," 337.

20. See Mohatt and Erickson, “Cultural Differences”; Plank, “What Si-
lence Means,” 3-19; Swisher and Deyhle, “Styles of Learning”; Philips, “Par-
ticipant Structures”; Philips, Invisible Culture; and Vogt, Jordan, and Tharp,
“Explaining School Failure, Producing School Success," 276-86.

21. See Birchard, Attitudes Toward Indian Culture .

22. Biglin and Wilson, “Parental Attitudes Toward Indian Education,” 2.
See also Steele, "Mohawk Cultural Perspectives."

23. McCarty and others. "Classroom Inquiry and Navajo Learning
Styles,” 42.

24. Trueba, “Culturally Based Explanations,' 1 281.

25. See McCarty, “Language Use by Yavapai-Apache Students,” 1-9.

26. Schindler and Davison. "Language. Culture, and the Mathematics
Concepts of American Indian Learners," 32-33.

27. See I lakes and others, ( 'urriculum Improvement for Pueblo Indian
Students.

28. See Tippeeonnic, "Editorial . . . On BIA Education.” 1-5.

29. Lipka, “A Cautionary Talc of Curriculum Development.” 216. Lipka's
Bayuq community is a fictitious composite village in the Bristol Bay region of
Alaska. For research on culturally appropriate curricula, see Gipp and Fox,
"Promoting Cultural Relevance”; Worrest, “Curriculum Development";
Butterfield. “Development and Use"; and Tippeeonnic. "Training Teachers of
American Indian Students,” 6-15.

1 1 j

Cw!'!$>A|i. Af UiCV.. A RiM A(.., h-8aM{. R.V'CNMI

30. Stokes. ‘Curriculum for Native American Students," 579.

31. Lipka. "Cautionary Tale,’* 224-

32. See Vogt, Jordan, and Tharp. “Explaining School Failure."

33 . For information on curriculum development and implementation,
see Cotton and Savard, Xative American Education', Gipp and i*ox, “Promot-
ing Cultural Relevance ; J. S. Kleinteld, “Intellectual Strengths in Culturally
Different Groups," 341-59; More. “Native Indian Learning Styles," 15-28;
Swisher and Deyhle. “Styles of Learning"; and Stokes, “Curriculum for Native
American Students."

34 . Tippeconnic, 'Training Teachers." 6 . For studies on effective teacher
characteristics, see Deyhle. “Constructing Failure"; Kleinfeld, Effective
'Teachers of Indian and Eskimo High School Students, ; Kleinfeld , McDiarmid ,
Grubis, and Parrett. “Doing Research on Effective Cross-Cultural Teaching,"
86-108; Philips, “Participant Structures"; Scollon and Scollon, A 'curative.
I.iteracif. and Face in Interethnic Communication ; Van Ness. “Social Con-
trol": and Lipka. “Cautionary Tale."

35 . See Freire, Teachers as Cultural Workers.

36. See Oliver and Gershman, “Knowing as Participant."

37 . Dupuis and Walker, “The Circle of Learning at Kickapoo." 27-33 and
McCarty, "School as Community," 484-503.

38. See Ogbu. “Variability"; Deyhle, “Measuring Success and Failure in
the Classroom," 67-85; and Mclnerney and Swisher, “Exploring Navajo Mo-
tivation."

39 . See Deyhle and Swisher, “Research in American Indian Education."

40. Chilcott, “Yaqui World View and the School. 22 . See also Ogbu,
“Variability”; Robbins and Tippeconnic. Research in American Indian Edu-
cation ; Stokes, “Curriculum for Native American Students"; and Swisher,
“Why Indian People Should He the Ones to Write about Indian Education, 1-
8 .

41. See Greenbaum and Greenbaum. “Cultural Differences": Locust,
“Wounding the Spirit": Philips. “Participant Structures"; Philips, Invisible
Culture: Spang. “Eight Problems": Deyhle, “Constructing Failure";
Mclnerney and Swisher. “Exploring Navajo Motivation ; and Wright,
Ilirlinger. and England. Politics of Second Generation Discrimination.

42 . See Jacob ami Jordan. “Moving to Dialogue."

101

J I

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Youth.” Journal of American Indian Education . special issue (August 1989):
1-14.

i’ippeconnic, .John W., III. “Editorial . . . On BIA Education.” Journal of
American Indian Education 35( 1 ): 1-5 ( 1995).

. “Training Teachers of American Indian Students Peabody Journal of

Education 6l( 1): 6- 15 (198.3).

Trueba, Henry T. “Culturally Based Explanations of Minority Students’ Aca-
demic Achievement/’ Anthropology and Education Quarterly 19(3): 270-
87(1988).

Van Ness, 1 1. "Social Control and Social Organization in an Alaskan Athahnsknn
Classroom: A Microethnography of ‘Getting Ready' for Reading." In Culture
and the Bilingual Classroom , edited hv Henry T. Trueba, Grace Pung
Guthrie, and Kathryn Hu-lVi An. Rowley. MA: Newbury House, 1981.

Vogt, Lynn A., Cathie. Jordan, and Roland G. Tharp. “Explaining School Failure,
Producing School Success: Two Cases/’ Anthropology and Education Quar-
terly \H{4)\ 276-86(1987).

+ ...

105 I Ml

Worrest, Henry N. "Curriculum Development at Pretty Kagle School: Some
Success and Some Problems.'' Paper presented at the Joint Meeting of the
Annual Rural and Small Schools Conference and Kansas Community Kdu-
eation Association in Manhattan, KS, November 15-16, 1982.

Wright, David K., Michael W. Hirlinger, and Robert K. Kngland. The Politic* of
Second Generation Discrimination hi American Indian Education: Inci-
dence, Explanation, and Mith/ating Strategies. Westport, CT: Bergin &
Garvey, 1998.

Youpa, Daniel G., Georgia Kpaloose, and Roland G. Tharp. “Family and Com-
munity Involvement in the /uni Public Schools." Paper presented at the
meeting of the American Fdueational Research Association, San Diego,
April 13-17. 1998.

inA

Charier 5

Teaching through Traditions

Incorporating Languages and
Culture into Curricula

Linda Skinner 1

T here are many challenges related to the perpetuation of Ameri-
can Indian languages and cultures, including the general lack
of awareness within mainstream society about the presence of
contemporary Indian peoples. Also, about two-thirds of the original
Native languages have become extinct, along with the cultural knowl-
edge they conveyed. Indian educators wishing to develop culturally
relevant curriculum will find in this chapter descriptions of exem-
plary’ programs and successful strategies, suggestions for more ef-
fective practices, and recommendations for overall improvement of
American Indian education.

Let me begin by sharing an account of mv own deep immersion in
these issues as both an insider and outsider.

On© Teacher's Experience; A True Story

Our elders have maintained a tradition of transmitting knowl-
edge, values, and history through oral tradition. We learn from the
experiences of others. There is something beyond the story itself that

llND* SwNNfP

takes hold of each listener’s heart and remains in memory. As our
elders have modeled their love for this method of learning and
teaching, I want to give the following account of a lesson in language
and culture that was for me both transforming and unforgettable. I
have shared this story verbally with thousands of educators to im-
press the importance of developing understanding of Native lan-
guages, Native cultures, and Native children.

It was my first teaching job. I was fresh out of school, having
studied at a major university in Oklahoma, preparing for what I
wanted most to do in life: teach Indian children. It had been difficult
to find any classes to help me do that, even in the state that had once
been designated Indian Territory and still has more CDIB Indians
(those having a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood) than any
other. The classes had very little content about culturally different
children, let alone Indian children. But I had done my best. I took
sociology classes, read a lot, and traveled extensively (from Greenland
to Europe to Mexico). Formal teacher education study between 1966
and 1971 included one chapter on cultural diversity in one history of
education textbook. That was not enough.

I was interviewed by a Zia Pueblo Day School community commit-
tee and a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) official for a teaching
position at Zia Pueblo Day School. One of their many questions was
“How will you communicate with our children? They speak the
Keresan language and you speak English. Of the 10 kindergarten
children, most speak only Keresan.” I thought a moment and an-
swered: “1 would like to learn your language, but I would also, in the
beginning, communicate with the students in ways other than lan-
guage.” Little did I know how difficult it would be, even with the best
of intentions. I quickly learned that the barriers of language and
culture are big ones. Thankfully, I also learned that barriers can lead
to the building of bridges. My interviewers informed me kindly that
the people had important reasons for keeping the language to them-
selves.

1 tried creative approaches during the first week of school. I
depended almost completely on Mary, the Keres-speaking teacher
aide, for communicating concepts. We played one game for the
multiple purposes of getting comfortable with one another, having
fun together, and learning both the Keresan and English names of
animals. A student would imitate the sounds or movements of an

108

Tf ACHING U (ROUGH TRADIUONS: InCORPORAHNG LaN( .UAU s A Nil CnKuM iNlO CuRRlOILA

animal and the others would guess. It was great fun. Things were
going very well until Mary had to leave the room. We kept playing.
The kids had already imitated many of the animals around the
pueblo: dogs, horses, sheep, and pigs. It was Cindy’s turn. She went,
“Meeoww.” Immediately Alfonso jumped up and said, “Moose!” I
quickly thought back to my teacher education days. I had learned
about the“ teachable moment,” and here it was! I would teach Alfonso
what a moose was. I proceeded to do just that. I put my arms way up
over my head and spread my fingers wide for the antlers. I bellowed
loud noises and said, “Moooose!” Their big eyes and puzzled expres-
sions told me something was awry.

During recess (which was announced soon after this incident), l
told Man' what had happened, adding that their faces told me some-
thing was not right. The look in her eyes told me she had seen similar
things all too often. Her head sort of dropped in her hands as, still
smiling, she uttered, “Oh, Linda, in our language, moose means cat."

We gathered the children together, and with constant bilingual
translations via Mary, we sat and talked about the need to communi-
cate. I explained that we came from different places and spoke
different languages. Wc said we would help one another. I told them
about Oklahoma, niv family, and the Choctaws. They showed me a
prickly pear cactus fruit and talked about hot chilies and pottery. I
felt better. Serious as the predicament was, we all laughed and were
genuinely amused. We all learned that day. Our classroom circle
conversation was the first of many meetings on the topic of cultural
relevance and authenticity in the classroom.

While driving the more than 37 miles home that night. I thought
about what had happened and what I should do. 1 figured this sort of
thing happens over and over again for the /via people, and they
deserve better for their children. I was Indian and committed to
doing my best. I had chosen to he there, and yet had not succeeded
that day. What had happened and what was happening to the chil-
dren whose teachers did not oven care about their Indian heritage? I
thought about resigning so a better teacher could take over but
realized that probably would not happen. I resolved to stay, do the
best job I could, and pay more attention. The kids were great. They
had already said they would help me, and they did. Now I was ready!

1 09 -

dren. They loved horses, birds, butterflies, and fishing. Rhonda
talked about “wild piggies.” They knew a lot about many things like
hunting, planting, seasons, dances, and pottery. They spent lots of
time with their families and had close relationships with grandpar-
ents, aunties, and uncles. I developed my own instructional materi-
als, even though the BIA had spent much money on commercially
developed programs. Those prepared materials were a lot like “Dick
and Jane,” meant for middle-class European American kids. They
were not very successful or even interesting to these curious, active
Native minds.

The next Monday morning, I finally felt ready and much more
secure. I set up a pretty little fishing pond with beautiful blue card-
board for water so the construction paper fish could “swim” in it.
When you fished with the pole, the magnet on the end of the string
would catch the fish. There were many colors because this was a
bilingual color-learning game. I was proud; the kids would love it.
Early that morning, Alfonso and Morris were the first students in the
room. They ran over to see what was new in the corner. They kept
pointing and talking to each other in Keres. I encouraged them to
fish for colors, showing them how. They still seemed hesitant. They
pointed to the cardboard (water) and said in a rather dissatisfied
tone, “Not blue, brown/* How many times had I crossed the bridge
over the Rio Grande and seen the water— but not “seen” the water? It
was brown, not blue.

This experience taught me that not only would the students be my
best teachers but that the quality of their education would depend on
community involvement. I began to learn, by experience and gentle
Pueblo guidance, how to involve parents and community in mean-
ingful ways, and how valuable and essential this involvement would
prove to be. My young teachers lit the way for me to learn and
understand.

A book called Teacher also helped me that year. The author,
Sylvia Ashton-Warner, gave valuable insights from her experiences
in recognizing and meeting the need for cultural relevance with her
Maori students in New Zealand. I believe every' educator and parent
should read this book.

Over the past 27 years, I have shared experiences with many
friends in education all over North America. This culture shock,
resulting from the language-gap experience, is not unique. It hap-

i in

Tf ACHING THROUGH TRADITIONS'. INCORPORATING LANGUAGLS AND CULTURE INTO CuRRlOn A

pens over and over again to Native children and their teachers. We
all know now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the federal
government’s assimilation and indoctrination policy has not worked.
It is time to meld our collective learning experiences and rise to the
great challenge of creating effective classrooms that reflect respect
for our children and create a stronger and more just future for all
children.

Let History Speak

Cultural and linguistic genocide (ethnocide) has been directed
toward Native people for many years. Of all the oppressive govern-
ment policies, perhaps the most devastating have involved educa-
tion. Education of Native children came under government control
through a series of treaties from 1778 to 1871, and it became obvious
to policy makers that education was a powerful tool for subjugating
and controlling the destinies of Native peoples. The general philoso-
phy was to “civilize” Indians. They were taken from their parents and
moved to boarding schools, where they were forced to forego tradi-
tional cultural practices and embrace European American culture.
For instance, at the Carlisle Indian School from 1867 to 1904, En-
glish was mandatory, long hair forbidden, and traditional Native
clothing unaccepted. Captain Richard Henry Pratt captured the pre-
vailing attitude in his memoirs: *T believe in immersing the Indians
in our civilization and holding them there until they are thoroughly
soaked.”-'

Many of those hoarding school students are still alive, and the
effects of their degradation and miseducation are carried to their
children and grandchildren. Some have called this negation of self
“the hoarding school mentality" and presume it is responsible for the
high rates of alcoholism, suicide, alienation, insecurity, and general
unhappiness present in some Indian communities today.

In addition to isolation from family and suppression of cultural
practices, great efforts were undertaken to eliminate Native lan-
guages and teach English. Federal policies specifically forbade the
use of any Indian language for instructional purposes: “Education
should seek the disintegration of the tribes. Only English should he
allowed to be spoken and only English speaking teachers should be
employed in schools.” ‘ Those language policies were to he enforced

i \ i

Linda Skinni r

under threat of loss of government funding. Ironically, and in spite
of government efforts to eradicate Native languages, there was evi-
dence even then of effective educational practices that utilized Na-
tive languages to promote overall educational attainment.

In the 1840s the Choctaw and Cherokee had elaborate, successful
schools, educating students in both Native languages and English.
Not only was the Cherokee population 90 percent literate in its own
language, but the English literacy level of Oklahoma Cherokces was
higher than the non-Native populations in either Texas or Arkansas.
There were more than 200 schools or academies, and numerous
graduates went on to Eastern colleges. All of this was accomplished
with complete tribal autonomy.

Then the federal government took over the schools, and Native
education rapidly declined. By 1969 a U.S. Senate hearing on Indian
education revealed that the median number of school years com-
pleted by the adult Cherokee was only 5.5, drop-out rates in public
schools were as high as 75 percent, and the level of Cherokee educa-
tion was well below the Oklahoma average and below the average for

rural residents and non-Whites in the state.

In many government-controlled reservation schools, missionar-
ies served as teachers. Though they also favored ending tribal tradi-
tions, as educators, they felt students would ultimately learn En-
glish better if they were allowed to learn in their Native language
the first three or four years. Current research agrees with the mis-
sionaries; language-minority students who receive at least three to
four years of formal schooling in their Native language generally
achieve more in all subject areas, including the second language.
Certainly the self-image is more intact. 4

Addressing The Need to Reinvigorate Native Languages

Dating back at least to the 1870s, schools have made every' effort
to assimilate, acculturate, and indoctrinate Native students to speak
the same, dress the same, wear their hair the «:;nu\ and even to think
and believe the same as European Americans.

The 1870 Annual Report of the Hoard of Indian Commissioners
summarizes the general attitude embodied in these educational prac-
tices, stating that education was seen as “the quickest way to civilize
Indians and that education could only he given to children removed

1 19

Teaching hirough Tgadiuons: Incorporaung Languages and CunuRr into Curr.cuia

from the examples of their parents and the influence of the camps
and kept in boarding schools.” *

According to Bea Medicine, the historic prohibitions against Na-
tive language use have had great repercussions on the communica-
tion skills of American Indians and Alaska Natives since language is
the core expressive element in culture, music, song, dance, art, and
religion. She also points out that the persistence of Native languages,
despite the extended period of repression, attests to the great vigor
of Native people and their cultures. This persistence also indicates
the value placed on Native languages by parents and grandparents,
who have continued in many communities to teach them to their
children. These communities understand that language is critical to
maintaining cultural continuity and Native identity.'’

Michael Brunn’s recent study in ethnohistory documents that
speaking a heritage language is essential to identifying with tradi-
tional culture and maintaining and carrying a culture forward. He
reports that “children’s identities are re-formed through the process
of language socialization within sociocultural contexts. Their identi-
ties are ultimately constructed through interactions within her/his
affective domain.” He verifies through firsthand accounts (life sto-
ries) of tribal members that “language was the key element that
would carry their cultures forward and maintain their traditions. To
them the loss of language meant the loss of their cultures and it gave
them much concern. . . . They came to firmly believe that their
heritage languages were central to their identities as culture bearers
and [v ere] an important part of what gave them their sense of
belonging; of being ” 7

To ensure that schools in the United States are ready for Native
children, it is necessary for educators to realize and value the rela-
tionship between language and culture. Eli Taylor, a First Nations
Elder of the Sioux Valley Reserve in Manitoba, provides a strong
rationale for the revitalization of Native languages:

Our Native language embodies a value system about how wo
ought to live and relate to each other. ... It gives a name to
relations among kin, to roles and responsibilities among family
members, to ties with the broader clan group. . . . There are no
English words for these relationships because your social and
family life is different from ours. Now if you destroy this lan-

113 1 V (1

Linda Skinnir

guage, you not only break down these relationships, but you
also destroy other aspects of our Indian way of life and culture,
especially those that describe man's connection with nature,
the Great Spirit and the order of things. Without our language,
we will cease to exist as a separate people.”

Federal policies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries suc-
ceeded in assimilating many American Indians through the educa-
tion of their children. When the first of these policies became law,
there were 604 Indian languages, which were, for the most part,
healthy and alive. 9 Today, only 206 Indian languages remain. 10 W.
L. Leap reported in 1981 that the remaining languages survive with
different levels of fluency, depending on the relationship between
the number of speakers and age range. Of the surviving Native
languages, it is estimated that approximately 50 are on the death list.
If we value diversity, and if wc value languages and their connection
to cultures, we must act now. There is no more time to mull over the
question.

James Bauman of the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washing-
ton, D.C., proposes that there are five distinct stages of language
preservation: flourishing, enduring, declining, obsolescent, and ex-
tinct.

Flourishing language. An example of flourishing language is
Navajo, with well over 100,000 speakers, more than any other Ameri-
can Indian language north of Mexico. It is also the largest tribe and
has the largest reservation. Most Navajo children on the reservation
learn only Navajo until they begin school. Louisiana Coushatta is
also a flourishing language, with a population of only 1,000 people.
The most important indicators of a flourishing language can he
summarized as follows:

1. It has speakers of all ages, some of them monolingual.

2. Population increases also lead to an increase in the number of
speakers.

3. It is used in all communicative situations.

4. The language adapts to the changing culture of the community.

5. Speakers become increasingly more literate in their Native lan-
guage. 11

1 ! . 114

Ji .’...H!*,-- , '|||A >'i .t, TuV.J.hU- if;* S4«t *i.'.\5'‘ J-. . [■'•! f •■■*•: •» V •«!<; dt : I * -IVt M / C'J { ' : * V *J1 »*

Knduring language. An example of an enduring language is
Ilualapai. The Hualapai and related Havasupai have fewer than
2,000 people, of whom 95 percent, including most children, speak
Hualapai. The language is not expanding. An enduring language is
characterized in this way:

1. It has speakers of all ages; most or all are bilingual.

2. The population of speakers tends to remain constant over time.

3. Knglish tends to be used exclusively in some situations.

4. The language adapts to the changing culture of the community.

5. There is little or no Native language literacy in the community.

Declining language. Shoshoni is a declining language. The
Shoshoni Nation has approximately 7,000 members, but their lan-
guage is now spoken bv no more than 75 percent of the Shoshoni
people, with an ominous concentration of abilities in older people.
These are the characteristics of a declining language:

1. There are proportionately more older speakers than younger.

2. Younger speakers are not altogether fluent in the language.

3. The number of speakers decreases over time, even though the
population may be increasing.

4. The entire population is bilingual and Knglish is preferred in
many situations.

5. The language begins to conform to and resemble Knglish.

6. The population is essentially illiterate in the language. 11

Obsolescent language. Pit River exemplifies an obsolescent
language. More than half the Native languages still spoken north of
Mexico are obsolescent. Perhaps 50 tribes have tewer than 10 speak-
ers, all of them elderly. The language can he heard only when the
elders get together. The characteristics of an obsolescent language
are these:

1. An age gradient of speakers terminates in the adult population.

2. The language is not taught to children in the home.

3. The number of speakers declines very rapidly.

L'NOA SKiNNttt

4. The entire population is bilingual, and English is preferred in
essentially all situations.

5. The language is inflexible. It no longer adapts to new situations.

6. There is no literacy in the Native language. 11

Extinct language. An example of an extinct language is
Chumash. Approximately 32 years ago, the last speaker died, al-
though the language had not been used for many years before.

Indian nations experiencing the various stages of language de-
cline require different approaches to the preservation or restoration
of linguistic (hence cultural) health. In the late 1980s, the first order
of business for all groups, as perceived by Native American leaders
and educators from across the nation, was to reverse the century-old
federal policy of disintegrating tribes by exterminating their lan-
guages. These leaders approached sympathetic lawmakers, who even-
tually passed the Native American Languages Act (NAI^A) of 1990.
This law explicitly establishes as policy the government’s responsi-
bility to assist Native American tribes to preserve, protect, and pro-
mote the rights of Native Americans to use, practice, and develop
Native American languages.

While testifying in behalf of this act. Senator Daniel Inouyc ex-
plained the impact of loss of language on a group:

Traditional languages are an integral part of Native American
cultures, heritages, and identities. History, religion, literature,
and traditional values are all transmitted through language.
When a language is lost, the ability to express concepts in a
certain way is also lost. For example, names for objects or
events in nature reflect the way people understand those phe-
nomena. When they no longer know the name of something in
their own language, they no longer have the same relationship
with it, and part of their culture dies along with this communi-
cation loss. 1 ''

When President Bush signed this hill into Public Law 101-477, he
not only changed the old policy but added further responsibility to
empower states and local education agencies, tribal governments,

and communities to determine their own linguistic destinies (see

box).

1 - < HA

Teaching imnough Tradiuons: Incokporaung Languages and Cuiiure into Curricuia

Native American Languages Act
Public Law 101-477 §2903. Declaration of Policy.

It is the policy of the United States to

1) preserve, protect, and promote the rights and freedom of Native
Americans to use, practice, and develop Native American languages;

2) allow exceptions to teacher certification requirements for Federal
programs, and programs funded in whole or in part by the Federal
Government, for instruction in Native American languages when such
teacher certification requirements hinder the employment of qualified
teachers who teach in Native American languages, and to encourage
State and territorial governments to make similar exceptions;

3) encourage and support the use of Native American languages as a
medium of instruction in order to encourage and support Native Ameri-
can language survival, educational opportunity.

A) increased student success and performance,

B) increased student awareness and knowledge of their culture and
history, and

C) increased student and community pride;

4) encourage State and local education programs to work with Native
American parents, educators. Indian tribes, and other Native American
governing bodies in the implementation of programs to put this policy
into effect;

5) recognize the right of Indian tribes and other Native American
governing bodies to use the Native American languages as a medium
of instruction in all schools funded by the Secretary of the Interior;

6) fully recognize the inherent right of Indian tribes and other Native
American governing bodies, States, territories, and possessions of the
United States to lake action on, and give official status to, their Native
American languages for the purpose of conducting their own business;

7) support the granting of comparable proficiency achieved through
course work in a Native American language the same academic credit
as comparable proficiency achieved through course work in a foreign
language, with recognition of such Native American language profi-
ciency by institutions of higher education as fulfilling foreign language
entrance or degree requirements;

8) encourage all institutions of elementary, secondary and higher edu-
cation, where appropriate, to include Native American languages in the
curriculum in the same manner as foreign languages and to grant
proficiency in Native American languages the same full academic credit
as proficiency in foreign languages.

•» 4

Passage of this bill was an important turning point in the federal
government's treatment of First Americans. However, a change in
policy cannot magically undo past wrongs and present-day effects. It
also does not automatically change current practices that continue
to miseducate Native children in public schools. Nor does it change
misperceptions by non-Native students about Native people, their
languages, and their cultures. Irene Silentman, who works in lan-
guage planning, says

To become more than a federal-level “gesture/' NALA requires
active support by tribes and Indian communities. With com-
prehensive support for many tribal - level education and lan-
guage policies still lacking, it is unclear how national-level laws
like the NAI*A will have an impact. 1,1

Dr. Dick I.ittlebear, in his work to preserve Native languages,
writes

The topic of language death has been “dialogued" to death.
Those who are serious about preserving their languages must
act now. They have to start tape-recording and video-taping
their elders, to begin developing curriculum for language de-
velopment and content area instruction, and begin compre-
hensive, college-credit training programs. Whatever action is
taken, it must emanate from the Native American cultures
whose language is to be preserved. ... It is up to Native
Americans to preserve their languages and cultures. To help
reinforce what the schools are trying to do. Native Americans
should just talk their languages everywhere, with everyone all
the time. 1

Addressing Lack of Knowledge about American Indians

As we enter the twenty-first century, many barriers stand itt the
way of equity for Indian students. The failure of national policy and
the prevalence of stereotypical attitudes about American Indians
continue to undermine effective, equitable education. More than 20
years ago. the American Indian Policy Review Commission reached
this conclusion:

J -'i

118

ft n.’j - ?m'.. .>• T!-. '- : 1?.- • '.f- • L-Vj-. ‘A, t s C .: •! C’ v." . ■»

One of the greatest obstacles faced by the Indian today in his
drive for self-determination and a place in this nation is the
American public s ignorance of the historical relationship of
the United States with Indian tribes and the lack of general
awareness [of] the status of the American Indian in our society
today. 1 *

American Indians and Alaska Natives have a unique governmenl-
to-government relationship between individual sovereign Native
nations and the U.S. government. There is no other minority or
ethnic group with this status. Kducation is an entitlement granted
through treaties for American Indians and Alaska Natives, not a
handout. Understanding this unique relationship is the first step in
grasping tin* complex nature of Native education today. Kducation.
often thought of as a privilege, is actually a right, based on federal
trust responsibility. Several laws, already on the books, mandate
multilingual and multicultural Native education, but they have not
been implemented.

One persistent problem Native leaders and educators must over-
come is their in risibility to non-Natives in the larger society. .John
Tippeeonuic III explains that because American Indians comprise
less than one percent of the U.S. population.

They are truly a minority among minorities. 'This fact has po-
litical. economic, and social consequences when money is allo-
cated or programs developed; or when data is collected for*'
minority groups. Often American Indians are forgotten be-
cause of their small numbers or grouped under ’other" when
data is collected and analyzed. At times it appears that Ameri-
can Indians are just low in priority when compared to other
ethnic or special interest groups. 1,1

American Indians and Alaska Natives are often considered van-
ishing races, museum relics. In the National Museum of Natural
History, a division of the Smithsonian Institution, a teacher was
asked by one of her schoolchildren, “Where are the Indians now?"
She was overheard to have replied. “Oli. I don’t think there are
Indians anymore." ,l

Conditions of ethnocentrism and ignorance of Native cultures
pervade American school svstemv compounded by the lack of Na-

11V Kxll

tive educators, which together create specific educational problems.
Native values are traditionally handed down by ciders. Blit these
eminent persons, who hold the knowledge that can keep our cultures
and languages intact, are missing from classrooms. While schools
have ways to certify Spanish, French, and German teachers ( foreign
languages), they do not provide alternative certification for Native
languages. These languages are national treasures, and the survival
of our people depends upon their preservation.

This neglect of Native values robs Native students of their cultural
pride and personal identities, impedes their success, and makes
them feel inferior and insecure. Moreover, Native students tend to
be confused by curricular content and design that are not culturally
relevant, authentic, or tribal specific, and that harbor cultural bias
and stereotypes. Not only do most textbooks and history classes
teach Eurocentric versions of American history/ 1 but there is a lack
of effective action on a national level to change the way teachers are
educated to respond to the culturally different child. Many class-
room-based language development activities uncouple language and
culture, depriving students of the opportunity to use language and
culture in real communication/*’ Schools have failed also to create
opportunities for American Indian and Alaska Native students to
access leadership positions within student bodies and communities.

Natives themselves share some of the blame. Native governments
and communities have failed to accept responsibility for determin-
ing the future of their people in all areas, including education, and
continue to perceive themselves as victims.

In a recent report on Native American colleges, Paul Boyer states,
“So while we describe the educational needs of Indians in this report,
we believe Indian education should come to mean not just the educa-
tion of Indians, but also education about Indians.' - ' Marjane Ambler,
editor of the Tribal College Journal, reports this problem eloquently
and writes about the impact of America’s ignorance on the lives of
Indians:

I have yet to meet anyone who was taught about treaties or
tribal sovereignty in a high school civics class when they learned
about federal, state, and local governments. When conflicts
arise it is not a time for education. As states and tribes battle
over taxation, water rights, or gaming compacts, citizens tend

] :< i 120

Teaching through Traditions: Incorporating Lanuuao; $ and Cut mm -mo Cumacuia

to be polarized, not informed by the debate. We therefore
conclude our study with the hope that Native Americans will be
given a stronger place in the curriculum of America's schools.
The goal should be more than increased ‘sensitivity’ or aware-
ness of ‘diversity.

Boyer’s report proposes that all students leave high school having
learned three “pieces of essential knowledge": understanding the
richness of Native American heritage, that Indians are contempo-
rary people, and that Indians hold a unique place in the nation’s
body of law. 1 *

Developing Curricula and Practices Relevant to Each
Community

As described earlier, tribal languages and cultures represent great
diversity, and Native languages exist in varying stages of linguistic
vitality. This situation calls for flexible, locally appropriate ap-
proaches, which vary from community to community. Yet, we all
want the best educational experiences for our most precious trea-
sures, our children.

It is also more evident than ever before that our Native population
has a brilliant pool of educators, parents, ciders, tribal leaders,
students, and families, who today eloquently express their hearts
and minds. This is no accident. Through adversity, we have had to
develop strength and endurance. Our recent history has been filled
with conflict, suffering, losses, and factionalism. Yet, our hearts
remain full of the ancient values of respect, generosity, and love for
our children, elders, and all of life’s circle. Our minds keep the
remembrance of oral tradition, the histories of our ancestors, the
images of our grandparents, and even the memories of their memo-
ries. We are spiritually connected to our past, our present, and our
future.

Those of us who serve as educators have had the opportunity for
many years to deal with education reform on the local grassroots
level, as well as state and national levels. We have learned needs
assessment, curriculum design and development, implementation,
and evaluation, all within the context of community and tribal eul-

121

L $■

tures. It is time to come full circle and put forth the best we have to
give for our future, our children.

Traditionally education among Native people helped children find
meaning in life. The curriculum was balanced, attending to cognitive
learning (factual information necessary for survival) and relating it
to affective and emotional learning through oral tradition and knowl-
edge guided by tribal elders. Children developed physical strength
and skills through games and daily activities. They developed social
skills through group experiences, grounded in the philosophy that
we arc born into lives of service. We do not exist alone. Community is
important. All these lessons are connected to spirituality, which is at
the center of our existence.

Amidst our cultural and li iguistic diversities, we share guiding
values that could form the base of a tribal code of education or could
become curricular content, learned through interdisciplinary activi-
ties. These shared values include

• generosity and cooperation

• independence and freedom

• respect for ciders and wisdom

• connectedness and love

• courage and responsibility

• indirect communication and noninterference

• silence, reflection, and spirit

These values were once taught by communities; they can he again
today. When communities produce education, values and beliefs are
expre sed, languages are spoken, songs are sung, and histories are
heard. The people determine their priorities and develop a loving,
collective ownership of the curriculum.

Kvery district must have a curriculum relevant to its community
that also uses multicultural approaches and methods to value diver-
sity and teach tolerance, livery district must he responsible for using
the rich resources it has at hand. 'Phis does not mean holding one or
two meetings where one .Joe and one .Jane show up and then con-
clude that parents do not care. Historically, schools have alienated
American Indian parents. This negative cycle must he broken. The

1 122

Teaching through Traditions: Incorporating Languages and Culture into Curricula

small number of local education agencies (LEAs) that have made
good progress in establishing positive communication with parents
must be nationally recognized. They should be awarded the opportu-
nity to share their secrets of success with all, raising the standards
and expectations of respectful relationships.

Textbook companies must realize their obligation to represent all
people with truth in print. Textbook commissions can assist each
state in solving the problem of institutionalized racism by refusing to
buy books that denigrate any group or perpetuate any stereotypes, or
that include cultural bias or insufficient information about particu-
lar groups.

The following recommendations would move our public schools
toward equality and equity:

• Even* local school board should have representation of each
minority in its district, elected by that minority.

• The proportion of teachers from various racial/ethnic groups
should match the proportions present in the student popula-
tion served in each individual LEA.

• Every LEA must recognize the relationship of language to cul-
ture and establish programs that use the languages and em-
phasize their importance.

• Teachers must be trained and retrained to meet the education
needs of all minority children. Where qualified teachers are in
short supply, programs must be implemented to allow for spe-
cial certification to meet student needs until teachers can be
trained. Teachers who prove unable or unwilling, over lime, to
address the education needs of (///students should be removed
from school faculties.

Districts that receive federal funding for Native students must
be forced to include Native parents from local communities on
committees that establish policies. The ratio of parents on
these committees should reflect the number of children in the
district as well as the amount of money the endorsement of
those children generates. Native communities must he involved
wherever local education agency (LEA) expenditures include
federal monies.

Linda Skinner

• The federal government must take the initiative and enforce
current legislation.

Without such changes, we can expect the continuation of the same
unhealthy situations that have led many Native communities to
crisis.

Successful Models of Culturally Relevant Curriculum

How can we define the path of learning we want to create for our
students? An obvious way to begin is by examining positive aspects
of the past and applying them to the future. For instance, the ancient
wisdom that all things are interrelated can he exemplified in a
contemporary interdisciplinary curriculum. Tribal elders can help
by discussing traditional learning and how science, language, math-
ematics, the arts, social studies, music, and physical education can
he taught together, using culture as the common denominator and
motivational vehicle. The Wa He Lute Indian School at Frank's
Landing, Washington, is an excellent example. Educators and com-
munity members developed a seasonal-environmental curriculum
based on traditional values, oral traditions, and guidance from el-
ders. Their curricular experiences were based on the Nisqually River,
Mount Rainier, and the local flora and fauna (huckleberries, salmon
berries, alder, cedar, and fish). 21 * Project Preserve in Bemidji, Minne-
sota, has honored the past by compiling a book of memories and
photographs of elders on the reservation, serves the present with a
strong volunteer program, and prepares for the future by helping
young people succeed in college classes. The book and volunteer
program reflect crucial characteristics of Indian education such as
Native culture and cultural skills, allowing for collaborative efforts
and individual talent, using the teacher as a facilitator, deriving
knowledge from experience rather than textbooks, making partici-
pation voluntary, and including multigenerational characteristics.

Most importantly community members need to take active roles.
Discuss common stereotypes and cultural biases to which your chil-
dren have been exposed, and examine textbooks for untruthful rep-
resentations and biased accounts of historical events. Become advo-
cates for your students by serving on textbook commissions and

J H \ I 124

LlNPA S*»NNH?

with a special relevance to the local Native community. Science,
mathematics, and language arts studies relate to the environment
and life experiences of the Hualapai reservation. Discovery and
experience are integral to the curriculum. 28

At Isleta Pueblo, a computer program developed by a University
of New Mexico professor, Ted Jojola (an Isleta Native), assists Head
Start students in learning the language and folkways of their ancient
tribe. Opinion differs o”. whether to continue this project. The chil-
dren are learning but so too are non-Isletans. Some fear sharing
tribal knowledge with the offspring of people who have tried during
the last 500 years to destroy Native cultures in one way or another.

In 1990 Verna Graves, director of education, Red Lake Band of
Chippewa Indians, stated the tribal government of the Red Lake
Band was the only tribe in the Western Hemisphere that had pre-
pared a comprehensive code for education. 2 '’ The band developed
seven education goals and four general education objectives. The
tribal council declared the Chippewa language the official language
of Red Lake. The education goals encompass a broad knowledge of
Chippewa culture and are integrated into all phases of the curricu-
lum.

Graves quoted the Augustus F. Hawkins- Robert T. Stafford El-
ementary and Secondary School Improvement A mend meats (1988),
which guarantee that the assistant secretary of the Department of
Interior

shall provide for comprehensive multicultural and multilin-
gual education programs including the production and use of
instructional materials, culturally appropriate methodologies
and teaching and learning strategies that will reinforce, pre-
serve and maintain Indian and Alaska Native languages, cul-
tures and histories. 10

Though these policies were written for federally recognized Indian
nations, Graves anticipated that policies written by Indian people
would be adopted by other school systems enrolling American In-
dian students. She eloquently stated a common theme when she
testified:

We believe it is necessary and inherently proper for each tribe
to develop systems of education. For years we have danced to

4 s i

I9A

TfAUtlNO THROUGH T('AUi:u;NS: Inc OM'URAIiNG LAI'jr.l'Ai .1 S ANl» C Ut (nRt INK* G>W<H UlA

the tune of others as education plans were written for us; we
will now go forward with our own plans to serve our own people
governed and prescribed from within to serve the individual
member and our tribe as a whole. 11

The language policy of the Red Lake Band Kducation Code is an
excellent example of tribal autonomy in education. The policy be-
gins, “The Chippewa language is a gift from the Creator to our people
and, therefore, shall be treated with respect. The Code includes
these 15 sections:

1. reciprocity of language use

2. protection of language use authority

3. general application

4. status of the Chippewa language

5. parent involvement

6. eminent persons/eiders

7. Chippewa language as an integral part of all school curricula

8. orthography

9. teacher, administrator, and guidance counselor competencies
for language instruction (preservice and in-service)

10. teachers and teacher aides (certification for language instruc-
tion)

11. establishment of the Red Lake Language and Culture Commis-
sion

12. composition of the Red Lake Language and Culture Commis-
sion

13. role and function of the Red Lake Language and Culture Com-
mission

M. research and external studies that require tribal approval
15. funding for language policy implementation

The Indian Reading Series, published by the Northwest Regional
Kducational Laboratory, is an example of a curriculum created by
Indian authors and authenticated by the participating tribes. It was

'PU \

field-tested in more than 93 classrooms. The student hooks show the
cultural diversity of Indian America and are designed to improve
reading comprehension, classroom participation, and written and
oral language skills. The teacher manuals relate cultural background
information, program objectives and rationale, and teaching activi-
ties to Native culture, utilizing the language experience approach to
learning. The activities are designed to help students learn how to
think, rather than what to think.

The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction began offer-
ing three teacher training programs and a four-part Native curricu-
lum built around the North Dakota Centennial celebration after a
survey showed that 99 percent of North Dakota teachers did not
have books about Native Americans in their classrooms. Other find-
ings of the survey showed 75 percent of the teachers did not fre-
quently plan activities reflective of cultural diversity, while 91 per-
cent did not plan activities reflecting Native culture. “

A school in Pawnee, Oklahoma, has found a unique solution to a
political, social, and legal dilemma. Helen Norris’s Indian students
visited Pawnee homelands in Republic, Nebraska, and toured the
original earth lodges of their ancestors. In 1985, 42 students and
their parents traveled to the Field Museum in Chicago to visit the
largest display of Pawnee artifacts in the United States. In 1988
students wrote to the Nebraska Historical Society, asking the society
to release 378 skeletal remains of their ancestors and burial goods
that had been dug up. Their letters became part of a congressional
hearing report and were instrumental in the reburial of 146 Pawnee,
Arikara, and Wichita ancestors who had been put on public display
in Salina, Kansas. The students also raised money for a Pendleton
blanket to he placed on one of the bodies for burial. This labor of love
encompassed cultural and linguistic tradition, writing, speaking,
listening, researching, and communicating with elders, staff, attor-
neys, legislators, and one another. H

United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY), an Oklahoma-
based national organization, is involved in activities that enable
Native youth to meet together, define problems, identify solutions,
and develop strategies to address their concerns. The goals and
strategies are built around spirituality, unity, environment, heritage,
sovereignty, family, individual, education, health, economy, sobri-
ety, and service.

4 t . i

128

It a< ming ihmxjgh TPA(iiito;G: Inc \ ai\ ;ka:»ng L*kgj , 1 s and ipto Cmw uia

The Cheyenne Circle Keepers consists of children in four western
Oklahoma communities who have pledged to keep their bodies,
minds, and spirits strong— in holding with ancient tradition. They
have special interactions with their Native elders, learning the his-
tory and traditions that keep a people strong. Their gourd dance clan
is a powerful presence, showing what love for children and elders
can produce.

The value of embracing our cultural loots is echoed by Paul Hover:

If we have learned anything from our relationship with the
American Indian, it is that people cannot be torn from their
cultural roots without harm. To the extent that we fail to assist
Native Americans through their own institutions, to reclaim
their past and secure their future, we are compounding the
costly errors of the past. 4 '

A Call for a National Native Curriculum Project

To meet the education needs of Native students, it is essential that
wc establish a National Native Curriculum Project, funded by the
U.S. Department of Education, as an entitlement based on treaty
rights. The need is clear, not only for Native students but for all
students, to create more accurate learning experiences related to
American Indians and Alaska Natives.

This National Native Curriculum Project should have a central
office, director, and staff of Native curriculum developers with years
of experience in Native communities and education. Regional offices
should be established in each of the identified cultural areas to
develop locally researched Native curricula that accurately reflect
the lifeways of the people. The results would necessarily he tribal-
specific, nonstereotypical, authentic, and free of cultural bias. All
regional centers would feed into the national center (and vice versa).
The result would he a curriculum of empowerment for students,
enhanced by the generous contributions of all Native groups for all
Native children. 'Phis curriculum, accompanied by accurate resource
materials, would be placed in every school in the United States to
bring children honor and to ensure that future generations may
benefit from this decisive action.

129 w,

Linda Skinni i?

In this way, we can change years of misinformation to achieve a
future that goes beyond the “Thanksgiving and Indians” syndrome.
The contributions of Native peoples would be discussed, along with
heroes and holidays, resulting in a higher level of learning. The
structure of the curriculum itself would be transformed to enable
students to view concepts, issues, events, and themes from the unique
and diverse perspectives of Native groups. Then, and only then, will
students gain the necessary level of critical thinking to make thought-
ful decisions on issues and proactive personal choices.

In conclusion, we must join together now to make a good life for
our children and our children's children seven generations to come.
Creating caring classroom communities that nurture the human
spirit, regardless of ethnicity, is the beginning step in building an
educational environment that does not assault any student's culture.

Together, we can move from the inaccurate and trivial to the
meaningful essence of who we all are. We can work together to create
acceptance and understanding that will naturally cany us to real
relationships with one another. We can foster authentic interaction
based on respect and trust, which will lead to the education of
children who have powerful voices for peaceful relations with others.
Now there is a curriculum with meaning for all of us. Our children
can grow up respected and respectful, having the inner resources
and strength to act with love, wisdom, reason, and responsibility.
They can build their world with the power of love and acceptance.

We are responsible for what we teach and how we teach. Rethink-
ing our approach to a curriculum for diversity will send a message.
We value one another. We believe we can create unity in all our
diversity. We believe our children have the critical thinking skills to
examine our collective histories, not just memorize dates and facts,
hut to comprehend meaning, practice application, analyze, synthe-
size. and evaluate critically. We can trust our children. Can they trust
us? In America at the close of the twentieth century, democratic
values of tolerance, acceptance, respect, responsibility, and justice
remain the cornerstones of our way of life. Can we rekindle our
passion for “liberty and justice for all" and purposefully create a life
that reflects what we value?

Be models of liberty. Be models of justice. Kmbrace our diversity,
for it truly is our greatest strength.

i « •

130

Teaching ihkough Tractions: Incorporating Language* and Cujhri !ni» > Civrh hi a

Notes

1. Linda Skinner (Choctaw) teaches in Edmond. Oklahoma. Public
Schools.

2. See Pratt, Battlefield and Classroom.

3. House Executive Document, 93-97.

4. In Bilingual and ESL Classrooms, Ovando and Collier observe the
following: "Many studies have shown that cognitive and academic develop-
ment in Li has a strong, positive effect of L2 development for academic
purposes. . . . Academic skills, literacy development, concept formation,
subject knowledge, and learning strategies all transfer from Ll and L2 as the
vocabulary and communicative patterns are developed in L2 to express that
academic knowledge. (JimJ Cummins . . . refers to this phenomenon as
‘common underlying proficiency' or the ‘interdependence' of languages.
Cummins’ view is supported by research in linquistie universals, which has
found many properties common across all languages at deep underlying
structural levels. . . . Only in surface structures do languages appear to be
radically different. But still deeper than language itself is the underlying
knowledge base and life experience that students have development in Ll, all
of which is available to them once they have the ability to express that
knowledge in L2."

5. See U.S. Board of Indian Commissioners, 1870 Annual Report.

6. Medicine, Speaking Indian. 3.

7. Brunn, Ethnohistories . 12.

8. See Jamieson, The Aboriginal Language Policy Study.

9. McGee, Bureau of Ethnology Report, 11.

10. See Reeves, “The High Cost of Endurance."

It. Bauman, A Guide to Issues in Indian Language Retention , 7.

12. Ibid., 9.

13. Ibid.. 10.

14. Ibid., II.

15. See Inouye, Congressional Record, Senate.

16. Silentman, Revaluing Indigenous Language Resources.

17. See Littlebear, “A Model."

18. See American Indian Policy Review Commission, Report on Indian
Education.

19. Tippeconnic. American Indians. 256.

20. Kaupp. personal correspondence, November 1990.

21. Textbooks perpetuate inaccuracies and myths about Indians. Non-
Native authors write most textbooks and trade books. Most are filled with

131

k > .

propaganda from mainstream society's perspective including untruths, half-
truths, obvious omissions, and terminology laden with cultural bias. Virtually
no mandated local, state, or federal classes in the United States offer an
accurate history of Natives in America (prehistory, transition, contemporary,
and implications for the future).

22. Often, memorization of verbal laheis is confused with the infinite
creativity of speaking a language.

23. See Boyer, Xatire American Colleges.

24- Ibid., 9H.

25- Ibid.

26. See Skinner, Teaching Through Traditions .

27. See Boyer, Xatire American Colleges.

28. See Watahomigie's testimony, Indian Nations At Risk (INAR) Task
Force, Indian Sat ions At Risk .

29. See Graves's testimony. INAR Task f orce. Indian Xations At Risk.

30. Public Law 100-297, Section 5106.

31. See (Iravess testimony, INAR Task Force. Indian Xations At Risk.

32. Ibid.

33- See Kulas's testimony. INAR Task Force, Indian Xations At Risk.

34. See Norris's testimony, INAR Task Force, Indian Xations At Risk .

35. See Boyer. Xatire American Colleges.

Bibliography

American Indian Policy Review Commission. Report on Indian Education.
Washington. DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1976.

Ashton-Warner. Sylvia. Teacher. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1963.

Bauman, dames. .*1 Guide to Issues in Indian Language Retention. Washing-
ton, DC: Outer for Applied Linguistics, 1980.

Boyer, Paul. “Higher Kducation and Native American Society." Journal of
American Indian Higher Education 1(1): 10-11, 14-18 (1989).

. Xatire American Colleges: Progress and Prospects. Princeton, Nd:

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1997.

Brunn, Michael. “Kthnohistories: learning through the Stories of Life Kxperi-
ences." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Kducational
Research Association. New Orleans. I A, April 1994. KKIC Document Repro-
duction Service No. KD 374 94T

Cummins, dim. Empowering Minority Students. Sacramento. CA: Association
for Bilingual Kducation. 1989.

1 * '

13 ?

IlACMlNC* Ih'.’w.k. -M L '<■5 •» *M ! iN'*. L Af »Vl'*‘ - -t s *'Nf> Ct ! OU ,; t 'NIO CoW'l '!i A

Indian Nations At Risk Task Force. Indian Nation* At Risk: Summary of Issues
<V* Recommendations from Regional Hearings, July-Octobcr 1990, Wash-
ington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. 1990. ERIC Document Repro-
duction Service No. ED 341 543.

. Open Discussion with National Advisory C 'o unset on Indian Education

and Task Force Members. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education,
1990. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 34! 542.

Inouye, Daniel. §13851 & §13852 Congressional Record, Senate. 23 October
1990.

Jamieson. M. E. The Aboriginal l. any uaye To/icy Study: IJ We Can Speak and
Understand Our I. any uaye. Our Elders Can Tell Cs Who fie Arc.
Summerstown, Ontario: National Indian Brotherhood, /Assembly of First
Nations, 1988.

Leap. W. L "American Indian language Maintenance." In Annual Review of
Anthropotoyy . vol. 10, edited by B. I. Siegel. Palo Alto: Annual Reviews,
1981.

Lilllebear, Richard E. "A Model for Promoting Native America language Pres-
ervation and 'reaching." In Stabilizing Indigenous Language: A Center for
Excellence in Education Monograph , edited by Gina Cantoni. Flagstaff:
Northern Arizona University. 1996. ERIC Document Reproduction Service
No. ED 395 736.

McGee, William John. Bureau of Ethnology Report. Smithsonian Institution.
Washington, DC: DeVinne Press, 1897.

Medicine, Bea. "Speaking Indian: Parameters of language Use Among Ameri-
can Indians." In EOCES. voi. 6. Rosslyn, VA: National Clearinghouse for
Bilingual Education, 1981.

Northwest Regional Educational laboratory, and Indian Tribes. Indian Read-
ing Scries. Inchelium, \VA: Sunrise Educational Publishers, n.d.

Ovaiulo. Carlos and Virginia P. Collier. Bilingual and ESI. Classrooms:
Teaching in Multicultural Contexts. New York: McGraw I till, 1998.

Pratt. Richard Henry. Battlefield and Classroom: Four Decades with the
American Indian. ISO "-toog. New Haven. CT: Yale University Press, 1964-

Reeves. Sandra M. “The High Cost of Endurance." Education Week, 2 August
1989.

Senate Special Subcommittee on Indian Education. Indian Education: A .Va-
tina at Tragedy .1 Xationali \ hal/enge . 9 1st Cong.. 1st sess., S. Rept . 9 1 -50 1 ,
1969. (Also known as the Kennedy Report.)

Silentman. Irene. “Revaluing Indigenous Lmguage Resources 'I'll rough Lan-
guage Planning." Bilingual Research Journal 19(1): 179-82 (1995).

Skinner. Linda. Teaching Through Traditions: Incorporating A ’afire Lan-
guages and ('ultures into Curricula. Washington, IK*: Indian Nations At
Risk Task Force, U.S. Department of Education. 1992.

. Wa lk ‘ l.uli ' Indian Si In u >t( 'ultural Em ir< man •ntaf-Si *, asi matt urrii •//-
luni Outline. Developed with Elders and Communitv. Franks I .adding. WA.
1980-81. I ; .R1C Document Reproduction Service No. I’D 343 ”6 4.

^ ^1 A /*

Linda $k<nni&

Tippeconnic, John W., III. “American Indians: Education, Demographics, and
the 1990s." In U.S. Race Relations in the 1980s and 1990s: Challenges and
Alternatives, edited by Gait E. Thomas. New York: 1 lemisphert* Publishing,
1990.

U.S. Board of Indian Commissioners. Annual Report to the Secretary of the
Interior for the Yeur 18~0. Washington. DC: U.S. Government Printing
Office. 1870.

. [eleventh/ Annual Report to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year

lS"9. Washington. DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1879.

. Annual Report to the Secretary of the Interior for the Year 1SS 7

Washington. DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1887.

134

Chapter 6

The Native American Learner and
Bicultural Science Education

(ikkcokv A. C.vn-.n: 1

Cultural revitalization and restoration has resulted from
education from a Xat ire perspective. This has been one of the
positive aspects of the educational emphasis upon A alive
language and culture which has remained vibrant despite all
efforts to change our institutions.

—Boa Medicine. “Contemporary Cultural Revitalization"

U nderstanding the nature of the Native American learner must
guide efforts to improve the education of Native Americans.
To this end, studies concerning how best to educate Native
Americans have been conducted since the I9ft()s/ These studies
have advocated comprehensively exploring the unique and cultur-
ally conditioned learning characteristics of Native Americans and
applying such research to improving Native American education.
Unfortunately, few of these studies have focused on the distinct
culturally conditioned learning characteristics of Native Americans.
Instead, most approaches have attempted to adjust Native students
to the learning norms most valued within mainstream American
education. Basing their approach on the assumption that Native
American children suffer from cultural deprivation, educators have

1a;

Giucoky A. Cajeu

attempted to change the learning style of Native Americans through
educational reconditioning, in this way helping students conform to
the mainstream education system. The record of Native American
education— from the earliest missionary' attempts to the boarding
school era to public schooling in the mid-1980s— shows the preva-
lence of such attempts.

Fortunately, with the new emphasis on self-determination and
the concurrent onset of Native American cultural revitalization* this
situation has slowly begun to change. However, to strengthen the
movement toward more culturally relevant and learner-sensitive
educational approaches, some important factors must be consid-
ered.

Native Americans have undergone periodic adaptations of lan-
guage and culture during the 1900s. The nature and degree of this
transition varies according to individual, social, and environmental
circumstances. Many Native American students can be classified as
being English dominant in their language usage. Many have encoun-
tered in their homes and communities varying degrees of tradition-
alism in interpreting the natural world. Some identify strongly with
both the cultural and linguistic revitalization of their particular tribal
group. These factors have important ramifications for teaching sci-
ence to such students. For instance, identifying with tribal roots can
strongly motivate students to learn about science and its role in
some aspect of their tribal heritage.

While some students are rediscovering their tribal identities, oth-
ers are truly bilingual and bicultural. With these students, the bicul-
tural approach to science is equally important, but for different
reasons. Such students generally want to continue to learn and live
within the context of both cultures. Instruction in bicultural science
for these students can result in a positive attitude toward science and
reaffirmation of their tribal identity. Another reason to use a bicul-
tural approach to science instruction is that it provides a wav to
bridge differences in worldview concerning natural phenomena.

Native American Valuing in Transition

For Native Americans, participation in the U.S. education system
has always presented the challenge of coming to terms with two
distinctly different value orientations. The psychological conflict

136

The Native American Learner and Bicuiujral Science Education

that can result often lies at the heart of poor academic achievement
by a large number of Native Americans.

Successful learning is tied to the degree of personal relevance the
student perceives in the educational task. The basis for this premise
stems from the idea that motivation toward any pursuit is energized
by the individual’s own constellation of personal and sociocultural
values/* A Native student’s constellation of values has ancient and
well-developed roots in the tribal social psyche. It is because of these
deep-rooted values that unconscious aspects of Native American
social personalities remain so durable and relatively visible through
layers of acculturation. Understanding and using this cultural con-
stellation of values can provide the key to motivating Native Ameri-
cans to learn science.

Research from a variety of sources supports the notion that an
insightful, well-integrated, and consistent cognitive map and
worldview leads to a healthy concept of self and positive social
adjustment. The opposite condition is usually apparent when chronic
inconsistencies and conflicts arise between the internal constella-
tion of values and those of the external social environment. The
accelerated rate of change in Native American cultures since World
War II has increased the inconsistences in worldview and cognitive
mapping in the social, cultural, and psychological fabric of Native
American life. As a result, many people experience tremendous in-
ternal tension. Chronic cultural conflict has given rise to a variety of
emotional and social problems, the ramifications of which are poorly
understood.

Understanding the core cultural values of Native American tribal
groups, and how such values differ from the implied values inherent
in American education, is essential to bicultural education. But what
exactly are these core values, where do they reside, and how are they
involved in the current transition of Native American valuing? The
following example from Pueblo Indian philosophy may illustrate the

origins of a particular set of Native American core values.

According to Torcy Parley of Laguna Pueblo, in Keresan Pueblo
Indian philosophy, the mythological being, Thinking Woman plays
an important role in the process of human valuing. Thinking Woman

orders the universe by maintaining the balanced interrelationship

among four worlds of being. The first world involves the collectivity

of prior human experience (similar to Carl .Jung's collective uncon-
scious). The second world involves learning and the development of
the individual. The third world involves the development of think-
ing, especially at its higher levels. The fourth world synthesizes all
life within oneself, the individual life cycle. These worlds are so
intertwined there is perpetual movement of our being in each world
simultaneously. 1

In contrast to the notion of some scholars that Native American
cultures tend not to conceptualize abstractly, one can see that the
Kcresan philosophical concept of Thinking Woman is highly ab-
stract. In fact, the example of Thinking Woman as an abstract con-
cept requiring very creative conceptualization is characteristic of the
traditional worldviews underlying most Native American philoso-
phies. In addition, constructs such as Thinking Woman directly
influence the traditional, spiritual, and intellectual valuing within
the framework of the traditional culture. F. Strum and Purley ex-
plain, for instance, that two interrelated valuing processes are in-
volved in the concept of Thinking Woman and the four worlds of
being. The first is called Ma-s lira, which refers to immediate percep-
tions and the valuing therein based on the individual's experience of
the immediate environment. The second is called Shac-tah-ca, or
like (his it is, which refers to learning by being shown and the valuing
that results from such teaching. Thinking Woman can be thought of
as a process and frame of reference upon which core cultural values
are formed. The goal of such a valuing process is to achieve a balance
of those things that are valuable to the life and harmony of the
Kcresan.

Thinking Woman represents an ideal philosophical construct from
which traditional values of the Kcresan are expressed. However, the
increasing assimilation of U.S. mainstream values by Pueblo Indians
is greatly changing this traditional framework for valuing. Other
Native American cultures are experiencing similar transformations.

One can say in reference to contemporary Pueblo Indian valuing
that four categories are reflected in the personal value constellation
of individuals. These include the Pueblo-Indian-lhat-is, the Pueblo-
tndian-in-transition, the newfound-Puehlo-lndian, and the Pueblo-
Indian-thal-isn't. The Pueblo-lndian-that-is lives life according to a
set of values firmly rooted in the traditional Pueblo mind-set. The

1 *1 « A *> 0

The Na11V[ AmSRiC AU LlAWJlW AND BlOUW.'HA, S( lfN< I Epuc.ahi'n

Pueblo-Indian-in-transition lives according to value sets ot both the
traditional Pueblo culture and mainstream society. The nevvfouiul-
Pueblo-Indian is usually an individual who has not been raised in a
Pueblo context and is consciously in search of his or her traditional
roots. The value set of this group is externally and acutely oriented to
an idealized standard of traditional Pueblo culture. The Pueblo-
Indian-who-isnt, for a variety of environmental and personal rea-
sons, has consciously decided to adopt mainstream cultural values/’

In reality, the above categories depend on local circumstances,
and an individual may alternate among the value orientations dur-
ing different phases of his or her life. Human cultural valuing is a
dynamic ever-evolving process, and human cognitive development
does not fit neatly into categories. However, the example ofThinking
Woman and Pueblo valuing illustrates the kinds ot value sets charac-
teristic of ail Native American cultures and individuals existing within
contemporary American society.

Pueblo Indians are among the most tenacious of American Indi-
ans in preserving their traditional culture. Yet, even among the
Pueblos, the transition of values directly affects attitudes toward
education. The core cultural values of Native Americans and their
resultant influences on attitudes and behaviors are relatively sub-
merged since such values tend to operate at the subconscious level.
It is this characteristic subconscious influence of core cultural values
that must he addressed by any educational strategy.

Because core values invariably affect education outcomes, it is
important that the teacher, teaching methods, and curricular con-
tent reflect this dimension of the learner. It follows, then, that an
effective and natural way for learning to begin is to help students
become aware of their core values. This can he accomplished when
the teacher shows the students how the content presented in a
particular subject area (such as science) is relevant to or otherwise
enhances an understanding of the students' core cultural values.

A student's core cultural values can act as psychological vtwryiz-
ers powering the development of a positive sell -image. In a bieul-
t u nil approach to education, helping students bring core cultural
values into their conscious awareness for examination is a transfor-
mational necessity. This process sets the stage for students to syn-
thesize creatively and interpret these values in new and psyehologi-

GRir.cn> < A. C--a u

cally rewarding contexts. Based on these assumptions, recognizing
the core cultural value structure of students becomes a powerful
learning aid if teachers use this insight into their students’ minds
and lives in creative and constructive wavs.

Traditional Native American Values and Behaviors

The following paragraphs draw contrasts between selected and
widely shared Native American core cultural values and non-Native
American values and associated behaviors and attitudes. These brief
descriptions are somewhat idealized. They cannot reflect the wide
variations within Native American communities that result from
d He re nt levels of cultural assimilation among individuals nor the
differences among various Native American cultures across the North
American continent; yet, these values are common enough that
readers may have encountered them already.

Personal differences. Native Americans traditionally have re-
spected the unique individual differences among people. Common
Native American expressions of this value include staying out of
others' affairs and verbalizing personal thoughts or opinions only
when asked. Returning this courtesy is expected by many Native
Americans as an expression of mutual respect.

Quietness. Quietness or silence is a value that serves nianv
purposes in Indian life. Historically the cultivation of this value
contributed to survival. In social situations, when they are angry or
uncomfortable, many Indians remain silent. Non-Indians some-
times view this trait as indifference, when in reality, it is a very
deeply embedded form of Indian interpersonal etiquette.

Patience. In Native American life, the virtue of patience is based
on the belief that all things unfold in time. Like silence, patience was
a survival virtue in earlier times. In social situations, patience is
needed to demonstrate respect for individuals, reach group consen-
sus, and allow time for “the second thought.” Overt pressure on
Indian students to make quick decisions or responses without delib-
eration should he avoided in most educational situations.

Open work ethic. In traditional Indian life, work is always
directed to a distinct purpose and is done when it needs to he done.
The nonmaterialistie orientation of many Indians is one outcome of

L l

) I

Tuf Native American Learner anp BiruiUiRAj S.'ifN; \ Ep'Icahon

this value. Only that which is actually needed is accumulated through
work. In formal education, a rigid schedule of work for work’s sake
(busy work) needs to be avoided because it tends to move against the
grain of this traditional value. Schoolwork must be shown to have an
immediate and authentic purpose.

Mutualism. As a value, attitude, and behavior, mutualism per-
meates everything in the traditional Indian social fabric. Mutualism
promotes a sense of belonging and solidarity with group members
cooperating to gain group security and consensus. In American
education, the tendency has been to stress competition and work for
personal gain over cooperation. The emphasis on grades and per-
sonal honors are examples. In dealing with Indian students, this
tendency must be modified by incorporating cooperative activities
on an equal footing with competitive activities in the learning envi-
ronment.

Nonverbal orientation. Traditionally most Indians have tended
to prefer listening rather than speaking. Talking for talking’s sake is
rarely practiced. Talk, just as work, must have a purpose. Small talk
and light conversation are not especially valued except among very
close acquaintances. In Indian thought, words have a primordial
power so that when there is a reason for their expression, it is
generally done carefully. In social interaction, the emphasis is on
affective rather than verbal communication. When planning and
presenting lessons, it is best to avoid pressing a class discussion or
asking a long series of rapid-fire questions. This general characteris-
tic explains why many Indian students feel more comfortable with
lectures or demonstrations. Teachers can effectively use the inquiry
approach, role playing, or simulation to demonstrate they have a full
understanding of this characteristic.

Seeing and listening. In earlier times, hearing, observing, and
memorizing were important skills since practically all aspects ov
Native American culture were transferred orally or through example.
Storytelling, oratory, and experiential and observational learning
were all highly developed in Native American cultures. In an educa-
tion setting, the use of lectures and demonstrations, modified ease
studies, storytelling, and experiential activities can all be highly
effective. A balance among teaching methods that emphasize listen-

\A\

Gnr f.orjv A. On u

ing and observation, as well as speaking, is an important consider-
ation.

Time orientation. In the Indian world, things happen when
they are ready to happen. Time is relatively flexible and generally not
structured into compartments as it is in modern society. Because
structuring time and measuring it into precise units are hallmarks of
public schools in the United States, disharmony can arise between
the tradition-oriented Indian learner and the material being pre-
sented. The solution is to allow for scheduling flexibility within
practical limits.

Orientation to present. Traditionally most Indians have ori-
ented themselves to the present and the immediate tasks at hand.
This orientation stems from the deep philosophical emphasis on
being rather than on becoming. Present needs and desires tend to
take precedence over vague future rewards. Although this orienta-
tion has changed considerably over the past 40 years, vestiges are
still apparent in the personalities of many Native Americans. Given
this characteristic, the learning material should have a sense of
immediate relevancy for the time and place of each student.

Practicality. Indians tend to be practical minded. Many Indians
have less difficulty comprehending educational materials and ap-
proaches that are concrete or experiential rather than abstract and
theoretical. Given this characteristic, learning and teaching should
begin with numerous concrete examples and activities to be followed
by discussion of the abstraction.

Holistic orientation. Indian cultures, like most primal cul-
tures, have a long-standing and well-integrated orientation to the
whole. This is readily apparent in various aspects of Indian cultures,
ranging from healing to social organization. Presenting educational
material from a holistic perspective is an essential and natural strat-
egy for teaching Indian people.

Spirituality. Religious thought and action are integrated into
every aspect of the sociocultural fabric of traditional Native Ameri-
can life. Spirituality is considered a natural component of every-
thing. When presenting new concepts, teachers should keep in mind
that all aspects o{ Indian cultures are touched by it. Discussing
general aspects of spirituality and religion is an important part of the

1 r x
] S AA7

Tuf NaIivE AmFHu'AN Lf ARNH? ANf) BlCUllUPAl SrilNCt £pnr A1ION

curriculum, although precautions must be taken to respect the integ-
rity, sacred value, and inherent privacy of each Indian tribe's reli-
gious practices. Ideally all discussions of Native American religion
should be kept as general and nonspecific as possible. Specifics
should be discussed only in the proper context and with the neces-
sary permission of the particular tribe involved.

Caution. The tendency toward caution in unfamiliar personal
encounters and situations has given rise to the stereotypical por-
trayal of the stoic Indian. This characteristic is closely related to the
placidity and quiet behavior of many Indian people. In many cases,
such caution results from a basic fear regarding how their thoughts
and behavior will be accepted by others with whom they are unfamil-
iar or in a new situation with which they have no experience. Educa-
tors should make every effort to alleviate these fears and show that
students' subjective orientations arc accepted by the teacher. To the
extent possible, the class and lesson presentation should be made as
informal and open as possible. Open friendliness and sincerity are
key factors in easing these tensions.

Classroom discipline. Most Indian people value the cultiva-
tion of self-discipline and rarely resort to direct punishment or
demeaning personal criticism. Behavior is regulated through group
and peer pressure. Withdrawing approval, expressing shame, and
reflecting unacceptable behavior back to the individual are the main
forms of punishment in the traditional Indian context. In the class-
room, direct and demeaning personal criticism in front of others is
considered rude and disrespectful and can lead to “loss of face" and
complete withdrawal and alienation by the student. Withdrawing
approval and communicating clearly the consequences of breeching
standard behavior are key considerations in this situation/'

Field-sensitive orientation (group orientation, a sensi-
tivity for a field of social relationships). A significant number
of Native Americans tend to express field-sensitive behaviors as
opposed to field-independent behavioral characteristics." 'This has
direct implications for the learning styles Native Americans exhibit.
The most important implications include the following: Native Ameri-
can learners will respond more readily to personalized encourage-
ment coupled with guidance and demonstration from the teacher;
Native American learners tend to base much of their motivation foi

143

learning on the affective relationship with the teacher; and Native
American learners tend to respond best to learning formats that are
group oriented and humanized through the extensive use of narra-
tion, humor, drama, and affective modeling in the presentation of
content. 8

Implementing Biculturai Science Education

The scientific rationalistic viewpoint has become an integral part
of the American education structure. This viewpoint has become so
ingrained in the psyche that most Americans view reality in no other
way. Because of this conditioning, science education in most schools
is the subject most insensitive to the diverse sociocultural environ-
ments from which students come.

Learning is tied to the job. The following example demon-
strates the differences and possible points of antagonism among
European American and Native American approaches to teaching
and learning science.

In Native American society, learning how to hunt is a programmed
sequence of observations and experiences tied to a process:

1. learning the habits of the animal to be hunted— via mythology,
listening, and observation;

2. learning how to track, read appropriate signs, and stalk the
animal— via observation, intuition, and reasoning;

3. learning the appropriate respect and ritual that is to be ex-
tended to the animal— via a “mind-set";

learning how to care properly for the carcass of the animal once
it has been taken— via an ecological ethic and technology;

learning how to utilize fully the various
taken— via technology.

parts of the animal

All of these processes require a variety of teaching techniques that
range from formal instruction to experiential learning by doing.
They must take place within a particular contextual framework nec-
essary for conveying these forms of knowledge.**

This type of learning is directly tied to the job or activity to he
completed and involves teaching to accomplish a specific goal. Stu-

1 r 1 AA

Th( Nauve American Learner and Bicuiiurai Science Educauon

dents learn much by careful observation. Within this traditional
process of teaching and learning, teachers are many, and situations
are numerous. Learning how to hunt becomes a part of the life cycle
of the Native American individual and community. In Native Ameri-
can cultures, education is grounded in the challenge of learning
practical skills and knowledge in a real-life context.

Modern European American education, however, imparts to stu-
dents conceptual frames of reference that prepare them for future
tasks deemed important in an industrial and technological society.
Learning material is typically laid out in a distinct linear pattern. 'Hie
curriculum is mapped out hierarchically, beginning with the objec-
tives for each grade level and moving to more specific unit and
individual lesson plans, each with their own objectives and associ-
ated learning activities.

This highly structured and programmed approach is useful in that
it allows for easier teaching of large numbers of students and a
greater consistency in what is learned. Yet, if one views this ap-
proach in terms of addressing individual student learning styles,
many problems become apparent. When looking at Native American
students with some understanding of cultural influences on learning
style, the teacher encounters major difficulties with this approach.

Much of modern education involves to one extent or another
imposing a preconceived psychological pattern of “right ways to do
things” and “wrong ways to do things.” In public schools, this pattern
involves imposing a modern American societal will on all those who
participate in American public education. However, in imposing
such a societal will upon what is taught and how it is to be learned,
many students arc denied use of their own innate repertoire of
intelligences and cultural styles of learning. Learning by simply
doing, experiencing, and making connections that coincide with the
personal and cultural intelligences and learning styles students bring
with them from home can be significantly diminished through such a
homogenization of the education process.

Understanding what constitutes reality' for different cultural groups
and establishing communication about nature that is meaningful for
each are basic aims of bicultural science education. The preliminary
steps toward this end necessarily begin with a careful study of bow
students perceive familiar natural phenomena. In reference to Na-

145 i r v r

Gpcgorv A CAjfif

tive American attitudes and ideas about these phenomena, one often
finds a mixture of observations based upon combinations of folk,
experiential, and school-derived sources. Such observations may
appear to be contradictory-, and a teacher might wonder how these
disparate combinations of ideas about nature can be comfortably
accommodated within a single student's understanding of the world.
To a non-Native American observer, this mixture of perspectives
may seem to be a paradox that must be reconciled.

Studies of cognitive development, however, imply we are all ca-
pable of having more than one internally consistent mind-set con-
cerning natural reality. 1 " The conditioning of Western scientific
schooling may make it seem otherwise. This conditioning of stu-
dents to think in only one way regarding the explanation of natural
phenomena is a key concern in enhancing creative scientific thinking
because such conditioning eventually stifles creative learning . 11

In addition, one often finds that opportunities to learn about or
practice the skills necessary for Western science arc not present
within the student's home. This is common in many Native Ameri-
can households. However, this docs not necessarily mean that stu-
dents have not acquired skills in applying cultural knowledge .to their
natural environment. On the contrary, many Native American stu-
dents from traditional backgrounds have gained relatively rich expe-
riences through a variety of cultural and practical encounters with
the natural environment. Hut the sources of knowledge of nature and
the explanations of natural phenomena within a traditional Native
American context are often at odds with what is learned in “school
science" and proposed by Western scientific philosophy. Herein lies
a very' real conflict between two distinctly different worldviews: the
mutualistic/holistic-oriented worldview of Native American cultures
and the rationalistic/dualistic worldview of Western science that
divides, analyzes, and objectifies.

In regard to this conflict, science educators have generally- adopted
an either/or attitude. That is, most science educators have deter-
mined that if non-Western explanations of natural phenomena do
not fit the Western scientific framework, they are not scientific. This
is not a new attitude. From the earliest days of missionary' education
to the days of Bureau of Indian Affairs (HI A) boarding school educa-
tion to the present, the attitude of replacing the “primitive" beliefs of

1 146

Tut N ATiVf Aupacan LrAW-jfP ANf • Science Education

Native Americans with the “correct" beliefs of science has been an
integral part of the curriculum. Such a difference in perspective has
caused much conflict in Native American students, families, com-
munities, and schools.

What measures can science educators take to decrease the con-
frontation of a student's cultural worldview with that of Western
science? First, introduce students to the basic skills of science. Use
familiar objects or events to build upon students' innate interests
and curiosity. Students then become involved with science as a
process of observing, classifying, collecting information, and making
generalizations with reference to phenomena they know about. Sec-
ond, or.ee students learn to apply these basic skills, compare ways in
which science as a thought process is exemplified in students' par-
ticular cultures and in that of the larger society. Third, analyze
various symbols as they relate to explanations of natural phenomena
in both traditional culture and Western science. Teachers should not
present one perspective in preference to another.

In every culture, the inherent thought process of science attempts
to relate derived symbols of phenomena to one another in such a way
as to develop a pattern of thought concerning those events. And
while many Native American students may come from environments
in which they are not exposed to, or have not developed skills re-
quired for, the established patterns of Western science, they arc
exposed to the process of making sense of natural phenomena. That
is, they have some skill in relating important culturally derived
symbols of phenomena within the framework of what is meaningful
to them. 1 '

The model, or symbolic map, of concepts representing what is
important in a particular culture's natural reality is important to the
way members of that culture apply the science process and develop
their mind-set. In addition, much of the communication concerning
natural phenomena is highly contextual in Native American cul-
tures. That is, information concerning natural phenomena is pre-
sented in the most appropriate context by using symbolic vehicles
such as art. myth, or ritual. Relationships among natural phenom-
ena are observed and symbolically coded in a variety of forms based
on experiential knowledge of the phenomena. In contrast. Western
science is low context in terms of both communication and process-

^ j [ ) < >

Grfgory A. Cajfjf

ing of information. That is, information concerning natural phe-
nomena is often highly specific, parts oriented, and presented out-
side of the contexts within which the phenomena naturally occur or
are observed. Western science is based upon a set of relationships
among concepts or theories derived from the observation of natural
phenomena . 13

Orientations for Implementation

Given the differences between the way Native American cultures
and Western science apply the science process, what are some of the
other considerations for implementing a bicultural approach to sci-
ence? hirst, teachers must keep in mind there is both an ideal and a
reality in the implementation of any approach to education. Both of
these dimensions directly affect the way a teacher teaches science. If
a teacher begins with the premise that teaching is a communicative
art, one can apply the appropriate research concerning the teaching,
accumulation, and learning of language to explain the complexities
encountered in the classroom.

Teaching is essentially the processing and communicating of in-
formation to students in a form they can readily understand, com-
bined with facilitating their learning and relative cognitive develop-
ment. Ideally the teaching methods and information presented will
be in a form that is relevant and meaningful to the students. Since
language is the dominant mode of communication in teaching and
learning, studies of language acquisition are important sources for
understanding the dynamics of this overall process. Research shows
that after a language is learned, it is initially used as the basis for
learning subsequent languages. We actively engage in a gradual,
subconscious, and creative process to acquire the knowledge and
ability to use a language and understand its underlying assumptions
and cultural frames of reference . 11

People apparently learn a new language in two characteristic
ways— through unconscious acquisition or through a more conscious
process. The most natural way to learn a language requires no formal
teaching. Instead, it involves immersion in the environment in which
the particular language is spoken. The other method requires the
formal study of how a particular language is structured. This in-

] ,s:# '48

Tut Nahvl American Learner and Btcunuwvi Science Epucaiion

eludes learning grammatical rules, correctness of form, and other
technical requirements .’ 5

If one views science as a special kind of language for communicat-
ing information about nature, the method of learning a language has
very important implications for teaching and learning science. Sci-
ence can be learned the same way young children naturally acquire a
whole language system by being in an environment in which that
language is cultivated. This implies children must be exposed to an
environment that is acquisition-rich in the language of science. Ide-
ally both the home and school environments should offer many
opportunities to practice and develop the application of the science
process. However, this is rarely the case. The task becomes one of
creating acquisition-rich, science-process environments in schools.
Elements composing such environments might include various op-
portunities to encounter the natural environment: field trips; visits
to appropriate museums and national or state parks; art, social
science, or culturally related projects dealing with the science pro-
cess; storytelling or guest speakers; hands-on activities involving
science as process; and the creative presentation of science as both a
discipline and a cultural system of thought

Another useful concept in understanding the acquisition of sci-
ence language and literacy is the relevant-input hypothesis. 1 " This
hypothesis suggests that a key to acquiring a second language is a
source of content that is familiar, easy to understand, interesting,
and relevant to the environment of the learner. If science can he

thought of as a kind of literacy, the relevant-input hypothesis sug-
gests science has a language with content, symbol systems, and
structure that can he learned very much like other second languages.
'Hie relevant-input hypothesis also suggests that we acquire new
language structures through understanding messages that contain
the new structures rather than being taught them directly. The im-
plications of this hypothesis for teaching science are many. Students

can learn new science constructs more effectively if thev are encoun-

tered first in messages that contain the new constructs. Thai is, one
can teach about science by teaching about something else and relat-
ing that something else back to a particular aspect in science. This
can he done by integrating ideas and structures (or constructs) from
the arts, humanities, or social sciences into the presentation of sci-
ence. 1 ''

149

Further Considerations

There are several other essential elements in developing an effec-
tive approach to bicultural teaching and learning. First, the mis-
match between students’ home environments and the school envi-
ronment is often identified as the reason for the maladjustment of
Native American students to school. Most often the nature of the
home environment is pointed to as the main problem. This situation
has had important ramifications for both the emotional and cogni-
tive growth of the Native American student within the school envi-
ronment. The second element includes the values, religion, commu-
nity, and social context from which Native American students derive
their frames of reference. These factors are essential to understand-
ing the way in which teaching/learning activities affect students. In
addition, the styles of nonverbal communication used in classrooms
and the social context of the school itself play important roles in
shaping student perceptions of education.

Tiie cultural mismatch between home and school has been the
subject of much research in bicultural education, leading to some
important insights that directly impact Native American education.
For instance, researchers have found that how a minority group
perceives itself as being viewed by the dominant culture often influ-
ences the self-esteem and self-concept of minority students within a
particular school environment. In other words, for practically all
Native American students, school represents an emotional chal-
lenge. Variations among different tribal cultures and relative levels
of acculturation that Native American students bring with them
from home couple with individual personality differences to form
important aspects of their emotional structures.

Many Native Americans view themselves as minorities, apart
from mainstream culture, because they are deemed as such by the
school. The fact they are frequently looked upon as being different
has had a detrimental effect on their self-images. As they grow older,
they begin to perceive what is valued and not valued within main-
stream culture. They realize that much of what makes up their core
cultural values is not seen as valid or important, and they feel com-
pelled to either adapt or retreat.

Native American students’ awareness of this underlying bias in
favor of Wesle *n values often direetlv affects their attitudes toward

1 \

150

Tnt N»vmy[ Anil»;c an If ARNf i? Awn B;<r utiutfAL Sonin Et r< ai-qn

certain school disciplines such as science. In a complex interplay
among student, home, school, and community, many Native Ameri-
can students internalize the assumption, based on their experiences
in school, that the school and the rest of mainstream society expect
less of them than of non-Indian students. As a result, students expect
less of themselves and adopt stereotypical images of themselves and
their cultures. To counteract this scenario, educators must make a
great effort to encourage and expect excellence from Native Ameri-
can students.

Aside from home environment and culture, language is another
major element within a bicultural education program. When one
views teaching as a communicative art and language as the most
basic part of that communication, the way language is used to present
content becomes an important issue. A Native American student
whose first language is an Indigenous dialect may come to school
with a different orientation to sound and symbol relationships and
may exhibit a unique pattern of thought and style of communication.
Such differences require a sensitive approach to the presentation of
each subject, especially modern science since it may be the least
familiar to Native American students from a traditional home envi-
ronment. Science as a process of thought is learned not only in
school but also through interaction in the home and with the sur-
rounding natural environment. This affects the student's perception
of modern science.

In many contemporary Native American cultures, traditional cul-
ture and language are being revitalized. Within this context, it is not
too uncommon to find students, as well as their parents, consciously
involved in relearning or reviving these aspects of their cultural
heritage. Language revitalization, along with a resurgence of cultural
identity, will directly affect the perceptions and attitudes of Native
American students toward science. Kven when a Native American
student does not come from a traditional Native American back-
ground, the bicultural approach presents important advantages. 1 *'

Very much like the learning of a new language, the learning ot
science can provide valuable perspectives concerning the way an-
other culture views nature. The comparison of a particular Native
American view of science with that of Western science can broaden
students' perspectives of science. It can help all students become

151

? ( ‘

G^gowyA C«j[U

more open and less isolated within the confines of a single cultural
viewpoint.

Discovering the Student

Discovering and understanding the student— culturally, socially,
and individually— is a first step in implementing a bieultural ap-
proach to education. This recognition of diversity is often given “lip
service” but is otherwise neglected or poorly represented in the
development of curricula. When educators fail to consider students'
feelings about a particular approach, they may inadvertently alien-
ate students instead of motivating them. Sometimes, well-intended
educators follow models too literally and overemphasize an ideal
picture of a cultural group, thereby perpetuating stereotypes not
based in reality, or reflecting an outmoded view of the evolving
character of a particular cultural group.

Such stereotyping is often the result of relying too heavily on
ethnographic descriptions of a culture, while failing to recognize that
cultures change and that students within those cultures may have
very different views of those cultures than are commonly repre-
sented in the literature. While such descriptions provide an impor-
tant starting point, they should always be tested against reality. And
the best way to do this is by facilitating discussion of the kinds of
characteristics students perceive as being a part of their culture and
experience. The reality of a culture experienced by a student may be
a collage of values and perceptions that does not resemble very
closely the statements in the literature. The student’s reality does not

negate traditional realities of the culture but exists beside or inter-
twined with these realities.

Getting reliable information on the cultural characteristics of
students is essential loan effective and meaningful implementation
of the bieultural education approach. Careful observation of student
compositions, informal discussion with students and parents, and
involvement with cultural activities within the community are all
helpful in developing needed perspectives.

Learning style is a dimension of the interplay of our insider and
outsider realities: it is conditioned by our individual and cultural
environments. Learning style has three dimensions: ways of think-
ing, ways of feeling, and basic inherited tendencies. Of these three

I t ) • ">) 52

Tm NAiivt American Learner and Bicuiiural Scun< { Ei:u< ai'n

dimensions, the affective, or ways of feeling, is the least well under-
stood, yet, at all stages of learning, it is one of the most influential. 20
According to Rita Dunn, learning style

is the way individuals concentrate on, absorb, and retain new
or difficult information or skills. It is not the materials, meth-
ods, or strategies that people use to learn; those are the re-
sources that complement each person s styles. Style comprises
a combination of environmental, emotional, sociological, physi-
cal, and psychological elements that permit individuals to re-
ceive, store, and use knowledge or abilities/ 1

As stated before, a major reason many Native American students
feel alienated from mainstream education is the incongruence be-
tween the approaches to and expectations of learning at home and at
school. The home learning environment of many Native Americans
is characterized bv such factors as freedom of movement, learning
through direct experience, and hands-on and activity-oriented learn-
ing. These learning models emphasize visual, spatial, and kines-
thetic orientations. In contrast, in the typical school environment,
free movement is significantly restricted and indirect intellectual
learning, which emphasizes verbal, mathematical, and logical orien-
tations, is the norm. In some cases, the disparity between home and
school environments is so great that Native American students expe-
rience a kind of culture shock that significantly affects their attitudes
toward school/ 2

Of the many possible behavioral learning styles, none have been
isolated as distinctly Native American, but some general tendencies
are recognizable. These include a predominantly nonverbal orienta-
tion; tendency toward visual, spatial, and kinesthetic modes of learn-
ing; heavy reliance on visual perception and memory; preference for
movement and activity while learning; aifd preference for process
learning that moves from concrete examples to abstractions. 2 *
These tendencies present major implications for science curricu-
lum development for Native Americans. Recognizing that a cultural
difference in affective learning style exists between the home and
school environment is an important step toward developing more
creative and effective teaching strategies for Native American learn-
ers. Floy C\ Popper writes the following;

'531

The basic except of having instruction fit the real nature of the
Indian learner, rather than trying to make the Indian learner fit
the school, opens the door to recognizing individual differ-
ences, behavioral learning styles and teaching strategies. 1 ’’

The following practices could help teachers get to know their
students and successfully implement a bicultural orientation to the
education process:

• Explore the student’s home and cultural background. This in-
cludes such areas as social orientation, parents' expectations of
school, parents’ educational background, and the student’s
affective orientations toward home and community.

• Observe students in the school context with special attention to
interactions with peer groups, affective emotional characteris-
tics, styles of verbal and nonverbal communication, and pre-
disposition toward specific teaching or learning styles (such as
whether they are predominately relational or analytical).

• Explore students’ expressions of core values, which can pro-
vide insights into their cultural worldviews. The goal is to
identify those values that can he focused upon in the develop-
ment of curricula and that students perceive as relevant to their
cultural identity.

The dimensions presented here are preliminary indications of
possibilities and considerations of the learner within bicultural edu-
cate 'll. Each area has been addressed only in general terms. A com-
prehensive exploration of each area would require a major research
endeavor that could enhance an understanding of bicultural educa-
tion and broaden the realm of possibilities for creative teaching.

Postscript

I began writing this chapter during a period of reflective thought
and research from 1982 to 1986 while writing my dissertation. Thus,
this chapter is a snapshot of one author’s early awareness of an
approach, to making science relevant to Native American learners by
building upon the bicultural background each student brings to
school. ’Hi is has since become a prevalent assumption in current

} f (,,i 154

THt Naiive American Learner and Btuuural Science Educahon

research regarding ways to improve science education for Native
American and other minority students. Today bicultural consider-
ations related to teaching and learning are termed “culturally syn-
tonic variables,” defined as “those factors which are in harmony with
the normative behavior, values and attitudes of a particular ethnic or
cultural group".”** Culturally syntonic variables include curricula
materials, preferred instructional and learning modes, language of
instruction, peer interaction, role models, contexts of learning, and
interaction with learning materials.-' 1

Added to the research on culturally responsive classrooms is the
growing literature on creative approaches to scientific inquiry, the
multicultural history of science, brain-based methodologies, and
constructivism in science teaching. All of these current i eas of
research reaffirm the essential role of cultural relevance in the teach-

ing of science.

In recent years, Indian education literature has moved away from
the notion that Native American learners exhibit a particular type of
culturally determined learning style. Instead, the emerging research
shows that Native American students reflect all possible modes of
learning, but these learning modes arc mediated by their particular
cultural orientation. Cultural orientation, especially in terms of lan-
guage, continues to influence the learning and perception of science
by Native American learners.

During the dozen years since this chapter was first conceived, the
loss of language among Native American youth has increased signifi-
cantly. Today most Native American students speak only English,
though a minority of students still understand their Native lan-
guages. Thinking first in their Native language and then translating
into English is no longer the case among most Native American
students. The reverse— thinking in English and trying to find a word
in their Native language that fits— is now the norm. Despite this
situation, the influence of a cultural constellation of values is still
extensive.

I would like to direct the reader's attention to new work by Native
and non-Native scholars that adds much to the thesis of this chapter.
For example, recent work by Canadian Native educator Madeline
Maelvor, Alaska Native scholar Oscar Kawagley, Hispanic American
professor Roberta Barba, and teacher educators Linda Clean 1 and

155

I t . .

GRfGORY A. Caj{ Tf

'lorn Peacock have significantly added to the research base and
curricular applications of science and the bicultural learner. In addi-
tion, culturally responsive curricula materials are now being pro-
duced by school districts, tribally contracted schools, tribal colleges,
community colleges, and universities that serve Native American
clientele. The popularity among both Native and non-Native educa-
tors of “Keepers of the Earth,” a series of Native American story-
based science curriculum guides by Michael Caduto and Joseph
Bruchac, is but one testament to the timely resurgence of cultural
relevancy as a factor in teaching and learning science.

Notes

1. Gregory A. Cujete (Santa Clara Pueblo) is an assistant professor in the
College of Education at the University of New Mexico. He has taught at the
Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Eeand has lectured nationally and
internationally.

2. See Aurbach and Fuchs, The St atm of American Indian Education.
See Anders and Lloyd, ’The Significance of Prior Knowledge.”

4. See Strum and Parley, “Pueblo Valuing In Transition.”

5- Ibid.

6. See O'Malley, American Indian Education Handbook.

7. See Ramirez and Castaneda, Cultural Democracy.

8. See Pepper, Understanding Indian Students.

9- Sec* Cajete, Look to the Mountain.

10. See Hyitfeldt, “Traditional Culture.”

11. See Lore,” Art as Developmental Theory.”

12. See Cajete, Look to the Mountain and Kawaglew.l ) upiay Worldview.

13. See Cajete, Science: A Satire American Pcrs/iectivewwd Kawaglev, A

) upiay f t 'orldi weir.

14. Ovandoand Collier, Bilingual and ESI. Classrooms, 58-61.

15. Ibid.

16. SeeOvando and Collier, Bilingual and ESI. Classrooms.

17. See Krashen, Second Language Acquisition.

18. See Lore, “Art as Developmental Theory,"

19. See Kawaglev, A Yupiag Worldview.

20. See Pepper, Understanding Indian Students.

J f. V '56

Tit) Na8>v| AmII "N LtW("Q r.t -if} 8- ‘'It TyiffAl S' ! Q» £ £l : "'I *

21. Dunn, “Learning Styles," 5.

22. See Pepper, l 'ndersta tiding Indian Students.

23. Ibid.. 21.

24. Ibid., 23.

25. Valle, "Cross-Cultural Competence," 30.

26. Barba, Science in the Multicultural ( lassrootn. 14.

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l -

J t I

160

Chapter 7

Student Assessment in Indian
Education or What Is a Roach?

Sandra .J. Fox 1

N ew performance-based methods of assessing student learn-
ing are being developed as part of the education reform move-
ment. These new methods offer educators the opportunity to
adopt a system that more fairly and completely assesses what Indian
students know and can do. Because successful performance on stan-
dardized tests correlates with socioeconomic status and the provi-
sion of mainstream experiences, Indian students generally have not
done well on them. Performance-based assessment can give Indian
children alternative ways to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.
According to the National Center for hair and Open 'Testing ( Fair Test),

Assessment is a process of obtaining information about stu-
dent learning that can he used to guide a variety of decisions
and actions. . . . 'The primary purpose of assessment is to
improve student learning. Teachers assess to learn students'
strengths and weaknesses, to understand their interests and
how they learn, to figure out how to help each individual and
the class as a whole, and to help students think about their own
learning, as well as to measure what they have learned and how
well they have learned it.*

»* »

Sandi/a J. Fox

The terms authentic assessment anci performance-based assess-
me/ it have become increasingly familiar as educators across America
explore alternative ways to assess student learning. But understand-
ing the methods and purposes of these new forms of assessment
challenges both educators and the general public, partly because the
topic is so politically and morally charged. The old paradigm is
deeply entrenched. The established process of norm-referenced stan-
dardized testing to determine student achievement and school effec-
tiveness has been sacred in America, and it has been deemed politi-
cally incorrect to question it. Those who disputed the usefulness of
norm-referenced standardized testing of Indian students were dis-
counted as trying to avoid accountability or not caring enough for
Indian children to want them to be as competent as others.

But the old paradigm is now being questioned by the education
establishment, making this an ideal time for Indian educators to
question openly the process of assessment used for Indian children.
To paraphrase Sitting Bull, “We must put our minds together and see
what we can make for our children." Indian educators must take
advantage of this opportunity. They must learn what the general
education system proposes for assessment and how it can apply to or
be adapted for Indian students so we might finally have a fair and
more complete picture of what Indian students can do.

This venture will not be easy. The Indian population, like the
general American population, is brainwashed in regard to thinking
about testing. It would be easy to stay in old paradigms or fall back to
them. The criticism of new methods of assessment is already start-
ing. We must stay the course. We must try new methods of assess-
ment that are being created, including the Learning Record, a sys-
tem recently adapted by BIA-funded schools, and we must evaluate
proposed methods to find the best ways to assess the learning of
Indian students.

Why Are New Methods of Assessment Being
Developed?

The U.S. Department of Kduealion explains that three phenom-
ena have prodded changes in the assessment process:

1. concern from the business community that students entering
the workforce could not produce in real-world workplace situa-

AV'tV^.nN’- ■*< lr.i»i«v>> Er ,< : a in ,n , >..• Wn.\; h » R •--«< >»°

tions and could not solve problems necessary to keep our coun-
try competitive in the world economy

2. emergence of the constructivist model of learning, which em-
phasizes how students learn and the importance of their exist-
ing knowledge base, and predicts greater student motivation to
learn when learning is based in real-world experiences

3. pressure on educators to be more accountable for student learn-
ing as a result of the 1991 report Indian Nations At Risk, which
promotes “teaching to the tests," even though the tests were
actually measuring lower order skills (not the ones required by
the business community) and knowledge out of context (not
related to the real world). 1

further pressure came from reports that students in the United
States were not learning as much as students in other countries,
emphasizing the need for an assessment system to measure the
learning of more difficult content. A review found assessment prac-
tices of other countries more performance based. The U.S. govern-
ment now urges new, more challenging instructional content in
America s schools and use of new assessments to measure the learn-
ing of that content. At this writing, recipients of federal Goals 2000
or Title I funds have begun implementing new content standards
and piloting new assessment systems. All states are required to have
performance-based assessment systems in place by the 2000-2001
school year.

Many have long criticized the use of standardized, norm -referenced
tests for assessment. In 1997 Peter Sacks summarized research re-
garding standardized testing in America:

/. Standardized tests generally hat *e questionable ability to pn *-
diet academic success. Kven though educators and the general
public have been led to believe that standardized tests provide
sound measures of students' achievement and schools' success
and many decisions are made based on results of those tests,
they are often not reliable indicators of what students know or
how well students will do in subsequent educational experi-
ences. Teachers often testify that standardized tests don't accu-
rately measure their students' achievement or abilities. Perfor-
mance on tests such as the SAT, for example, is very poorly

1 i/a#

correlated with student success in college. Sacks concludes that
high scores on standardized tests only predict high scores on
standardized tests.

2. Standardized test scores tend to be highly correlated with
socioeconomic class . 'This finding is true across races. Stan-
dardized test scores correlate well with the income and educa-
tion of one's parents.

3. Standardized tests can reward superficial learning . Standard-
ized tests assess rote learning of facts and formulas. They are
designed to test information that can be put into multiple choice
questions for ease of scoring. They cannot test active, critical
thinking skills. They cannot test whether someone can truly
solve problems or write an essay. Studies of students who scored
high on the SAT and a standardized reading exam found that
those students acquired information through rote learning. Stu-
dents who valued learning and literacy activities did not do as
well. Schools that continue to use standardized tests are work-
ing in opposition to the attempt to teach problem-solving and
other thinking skills. Standardized tests drive instruction in
undesirable directions and inhibit meaningful educational re-
form. 1

Fair' lest cites two main problems with traditional standardized
tests: (l) they fail to measure important learning adequately; and (2)
their use encourages classroom practices that fail to provide high-
quality education, especially for children from minority groups and
low-income families. FairTest goes on to state that the multiple-
choice format is incompatible with how people learn. The norm-
referencing and bell curve used for standardized testing reinforce
the view that instruction will not he effective for certain students and
will encourage low expectations. Standardized tests are culture and
gender biased. Determining important actions regarding individual
students on the basis of one test is misuse with serious implications.

The U.S. Department of Kducation report The Inclusion of Stu-
dents with Disabilities and Limited English Proficient Students in
Large-Scale Assessments, published in 1907, provides guidance on
making accommodations and other considerations in the testing of
limited-Knglish-proficient ( LKF) children. It acknowledges that pro-

1 / # i 164

SU:t.'fN* ASMVsVlNS !fi InI’i-VM E H ' ATI* »f J ( >.V w * 1 ^ 1 1 f?% ;A- p?

ficiency in the English language is another factor that affects a
student’s performance when assessed. This issue must he consid-
ered and addressed.

Again, why are new methods of assessment being developed?
Thev are being developed for all of the reasons listed above and will
provide new direction for education in this country.

In general. American Indian students have continuously scored
low on standardized achievement tests. 5 Educators of Indian stu-
dents have long believed their students could do more than was
revealed by the standardized achievement tests. Until recently, it
was not questioned. Many educators of Indian children think the
tests are definitely culturally biased and can give examples to sup-
port this belief. Dorothy King, who works with Navajo children,
documented the following:

Another item had four pictures: two men in a boat hauling in a
net, a Navajo woman seated at a loom weaving with another
woman seated at a nictate grinding corn some distance away, a
woman in a car returning to a house with a man working on the
roof, and a girl mowing a lawn while a mailman walks by. The
item asked one to identify the picture that shows helping each
other do a job. Most of the students said they had wanted to
choose all four. In their concept of the world, everyone is
always helping each other do whatever job there is, working
together for the good of their family and community regardless
of whether they are doing diverse tasks or at what distance they
are doing them. 1 *

A standardized test is probably a good measure of one’s accultura-
tion into mainstream society. The fact that successful test perfor-
mance correlates with socioeconomic status indicates that Indian
children are at a definite disadvantage. Most Indian children have
been included in large-scale standardized testing without accommo-
dations for limited English proficiency, even though many are LKP
students, whether identified as such or not.

What Is Performance-Based Assessment?

.'Issi’ss comes from Latin meaning “to sit beside." This implies a
teacher sits beside students and watches them do their work or talks

165

4 i.

with them. Assessment is a good thing meant to help students.

In performance assessment, students construct, rather than se-
lect. responses. Students may write, give a speech, solve a problem,
or do a project to show what they know. Teachers observe student
behavior on those tasks and systematically record information about
the student’s learning gained from the observation. Teachers are
able to see patterns in students' learning and thinking. This method
ol assessment is ongoing, built as a part of the instructional process.
It also drives the instructional process. Students are well prepared
for what is expected of them and understand criteria that will be
used in assessment. Rubrics explain how tasks will be assessed by
defining exemplary, competent, minimal, or inadequate performance
(oH'jther delineations such as advanced, proficient, and partially
proficient, as required by the Department of Hducation).

Portfolios are collections of student work representing various
performances. Portfolios are derived from the visual and performing
arts tradition that showcases artists’ accomplishments. A systematic
gathering of performances can provide a reliable assessment system.
Performance-based assessment is not completed in one sitting on
one day. Many performances are taken into account before determi-
nations are made about one’s achievement. 'Phis also alleviates prob-
lems that can arise if a student is absent on the day of testing.
Assessment and instruction are merged, improving both.

Performance-based assessment is designed to assess the learning
of content found in the emerging, more challenging content stan-
dards that promote critical thinking. Performance assessment is
often termed authentic assessment because it promotes the demon-
stration of applied knowledge and the performance of tasks of the
real world.

Performance-based assessment allows stud ,mts to he involved in

assessing their own progress. It also allows parents to be involved in
assessing the progress of their children and to provide information
about the child’s application of knowledge at home. Performance-
based assessments shed light on students’ understanding of a prob-
lem, involvement with the problem, approach to solving the prob-
lem, and ability to express themselves.

The main criticisms of performance-based assessment are the
possibilities of lack of reliability (e.g., different people might assess

individual performances differently).

validity (e.g..

particular per-

1 77166

S\ ; i u A« j v.m V 1 ; E . 1 '■ ^ I R -■

form an ces may not ho good indicators ot spccitic content knowl-
edge), and lack of access to data used to compare students and
groups of students (as was provided by norm-referenced tests), 'these
concerns are being addressed, and some interesting solutions are
taking shape, as will be described later in this chapter.

American Indian people have historically used performance-based
assessment to evaluate the skills and abilities of the young and to
determine their readiness for taking on various duties in the tribes.
Performance assessment is alive and well in tribal systems today.
Contemporan examples include powwow dance competitions, sports
competitions, art contests, am! some tribal princess contests that
require contestants to speak the Native language, prepare Native
foods, and so forth.

Performance-based assessment examines student performance
on specific tasks that are important for life. Those tasks can be
determined at the local level, providing relevance to the assessment
system. Performance-based assessment can take place in a child's
Native language, a situation in which a student’s language and cul-
ture would count as a strength.

Performance-based assessment may, at last, provide the first fair
indication of what Indian children know and can do. Schools serving
Indian students— particularly the schools funded by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs (B1A)— are delving into performance assessment. A
svstem known as the Learning Record is being adapted tor Indian
children in those schools.

What Is the Learning Record System?

The Learning Record is a performance-based assessment system
that provides teachers with a structured method of tracking stu-
dents' academic development and planning instruction to meet stu-
dents' needs. It has evolved from the Primary Language Record, first
developed and used in (I rent Britain. The Record was adapted for use
in California as the ( 'alifornia Lcimiina Record."

The Learning Record provides common forms and procedures for
recording and summarizing information based on selected assess-
ment indicators that provide multiple viewpoints and common per-
formance standards of achievement (rubrics), called scales. The
Learning Record summarizes c\idencc from a varieh o! student

Sandra J. Fox

-work and activities to assess student achievement in the contexts of
^the classroom and the home. It builds on what students from ethni-
cally and linguistically diverse backgrounds know and can do and
provides a system to ensure more valid and equitable assessment
results.

All schools receiving 'Title I funds must utilize a new form of
assessment starting in the 2000-2001 school year. BIA schools can
choose the new 7 performance-based assessment system of the state
in which they are located or the Learning Record, adapted for use by
BIA schools. At this writing, staff from 34 schools are being trained
to pilot this system at their schools.

The Learning Record system has undergone 10 years of research
and development throughout California, the last four at the Center
for Language in Learning, a not-for-profit organization in El Cajon.
By June 1994 the system had been tested in small-scale studies so it
could be phased in by schools, including Chapter I program schools,
as an alternative to or in conjunction with norm-referenced, stan-
dardized testing. The Center for Language in Learning continues to
conduct research on implementation of the Learning Record.

The Learning Record system of assessment is standards refer-
enced, based on the content to be learned, as specified in the new
standards and on standards of performance described in scales. (See
example of reading scales on page 169-) Standards-referenced as-
sessment requires an analysis of performance in various settings and
from multiple perspectives and relies on various indicators and
information from people who are important in the child’s educa-
tional process. (See page 170 for a diagram of the multiple perspec-
tives used in the Learning Record process.) Notice that standardized
tests can be one of the indicators for schools and teachers who still
feel that such testing is important. Examples of student work and
other documentation provide evidence that individual students have
cither met or not met the standards. Use of the Learning Record
requires extensive staff development. Teachers learn what various
pieces of documentation indicate about student learning and how
these data can be summarized to determine students’ achievement
levels.

A moderation process is unique to the Learning Record mode! of
assessment. Moderation readings of student records ensure the qual-
ity, consistency, equity, and reliability of teacher assessments. A first

168

Reading Scale 2, Grades 4-8: Becoming Experienced in Reading

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$*U(>f.NI ASNfSSMfN! IN iNtMAN El)tK AIK ‘N (wWhAI Is A RoAt

round of moderation readings is held at the schools own site among
teachers who are keeping Learning Records. Participants read in
pairs a sampling of the completed records and student work without
seeing the originating teachers’ judgments. Looking at the evidence,
they judge a student’s performance according to the performance
standards scale. The process is repeated at inter-site readings, con-
ducted by teachers from other schools using Learning Records. Alto-
gether, this makes three evaluations of student progress: original
evaluation by the teacher, evaluation by a pair of readers from the
same school (based on documentation of the teacher’s evaluation),
and evaluation by a pair of readers from another school at the
regional inter-site. If there is a difference among judgments by the
readers, other readers highly experienced in using the Learning
Record make a final determination. The Center for Language in
Learning reports annually to each participating school on the consis-
tency— and therefore trustworthiness— of teacher, site, and inter-
site judgments. For schools using the Learning Record schoolwide or
with an identified target population, the center also reports on indi-
vidual student achievement at each K-12 grade level.

The Learning Record summarizes information about student learn-
ing to be used with students of different ethnic backgrounds and
students with disabilities. It is endorsed by FairTest. The Learning
Record requires observation and documentation in assessing not
only what children know but how they learn. The assessment for
each child requires active involvement of many teachers, parents,
and the student. The process can he used for all grade levels. It can he
used to summarize information about reading, language arts, and
mathematics for Title I requirements and to evaluate student lan-
guage and mathematics abilities in languages other than Fnglish.

The Department of Hducation approved the BIA’s state plan to
use the Learning Record as its new method of assessment because of
the moderation process and studies that have shown it to be a valid
and reliable way of assessing student learning. A Learning Record
(Language Record) system is also being used with a multiethnic
population in New York City. Beverly Falk and Linda Darling*
Hammond of the National ('enter for Restructuring Hducation.
Schools and l eaching list the major principles of the system in New
York City as ' encouraging meaningful parent involvement, respect-
ing each family’s linguistic and cultural background, recognizing

'] <s

Sandua J . Fox

that children come to school with prior knowledge and experience,
looking at children individually and noting their growth rather than
comparing them with other children, and respecting teacher knowl-
edge and professionalism/’ 9

Resulting implications of the Learning Record for Indian students
can be great. The system includes many of the ingredients Indian
educators have called for in an educational process suitable for
Indian students. Indian educators should watch the progress of the
implementation of the Learning Record with great interest. At present,
we are gaining insight into the ramifications of its use by reading
what teachers participating in the Learning Record training have to
say (see box).

Comments of Participants in Learning Record Training

“1 am proud to be a part of this needed change in education."

“I am very impressed with the new method of assessing our children
[Native Americans). We’ve bee.: seeking such an assessment."

“Thank you for giving me a system/means to note my observations
and progress of the students I teach. It will be put to good use.”

“This is such a neat way to find out what your kids know — not what
they don’t know, and it gives you a wonderful insight into your students
as human beings!”

"Retrieving information from the student and parents to form a
database will provide a better understanding of the student."

“I believe the Learning Record will benefit my teaching abilities and
increase our parents’ commitment to our school, its teachers, and most
importantly our students' success."

“Finally, an assessment tool which will work instead of culturally or
socially biased tests. Also, putting the sharing of the educational
experience with parents and students is excellent."

“It was exciting how it all fit together and we were able to get quite an
overview of our student!”

"I have become very excited about the Learning Record and its
potential for all students. I feel very privileged to be in a position that
can have such a professional effect on our children’s education.”

“It seems like common sense to me and simplifies my ideas about
portfolios."

“! feel this is a good way of assessing our children, and you have
planned it out so everyone doesn’t feel pressured by something new.”

“I believe in ’asking the child’ — this will provide a tool for account-
ability.”

172

SltJOfN! A*>Sf SSMIN1 IN Ittf’tAN ElUJC AllON OH WmAI h A R< >A< \i>

What Should We Be Questioning Further?

Despite the fact that performance-based assessment, and the
Learning Record in particular, appears to offer a real breakthrough
for Indian education, our work in this area must continue. Indian
educators are calling into question many aspects of the educational
process. Some of the questions educators commonly ask about as-
sessment are discussed in this section.

Oratory or reading skills? In performance-based assessments,
one indicator of success might be the number of books read. In the
Indian world, reading a lot of books is not highly prized. For Indian
people, more credence is given to the skill of oratory. Is oratory not a
worthy process? Is it not related to reading? Given that assessment
drives instruction, is it not wise to give more weight to a skill, such as
oral language, that tribal members have long recognized as needing
more emphasis in Indian education? Should this not be taken into
consideration when framing the assessment of Indian students?

What about content? The whole matter of content for Indian
students needs to be examined carefully. While the process of per-
formance-based assessment bolds great potential, it still could pro-
mote cultural bias or emphasize learning that is not important to
Indian people, thereby putting us back where we started. This brings
us to the main question: What do we want Indian students to learn?
For example, the BIA has adapted national content standards to
include aspects of Indian culture. If this cultural information is
important, the learning of it must he assessed. What should Indian
students know and he able to do when they leave school?

How do language and experience factor in? What about the
fact that assessment of reading is in large part the assessment of
one's knowledge of and experience with the topic of the material
being read? It is also the assessment of one’s English vocabulary.
Yet, one’s reading ability is firmly determined (judged) by an En-
glish reading assessment. Mow can we say that Indian students
cannot read as well as other students as indicated bv standardized
tests and national norms? It brings to mind the story of one of the
chiefs of the Iroquois Confederacy saying he would send young men
to the schools of the White settlers as long as they sent some of their
young men to live with and learn from his tribe. How well would
non-Indian children do if they had to read something from the

Sanepa J. F uk

Indian world for which they had no reference? For example, if an
Indian story referred to someone wearing a roach , the non-Indian
student might assume the author meant an insect when, in fact, the
text referred to a headdress made of deer tail and porcupine hair that
is worn by male Indian dancers at powwows. The experience one
brings to the assessment situation is of utmost importance. If Indian
students are expected to read and understand materials, they must
be given the cultural experiences that relate to those materials. But is
that really what we want? Does that require Indian students to learn
things that are really not important to them? Again, Indian commu-
nities must decide what their children should know and be able to do
and then assess student learning within that body of knowledge and

In many Native languages, a single word may have meaning that
may take a paragraph to explain in English or that cannot be ex-
plained at all, or certain linguistic patterns may suggest entirely
different meanings from those expressed in English. How then do
Native speakers process English? What implications does that have
for assessment? We must question, question, question.

Leaders in the Assessment Process

We are just on the brink of improving the education of Indian
children. This is the result of new assessment processes and new
insights into what should be learned and how it might be learned
better. Wo need to work very closely with our communities to make
sure full advantage is taken of this opportunity. Indian educators
must become very interested in the new assessment process and its
implications. They must ask questions that may affect the teaching
and learning of Indian children.

An Indian educator who has taken a special interest in the assess-
ment process is Roger Bordeaux:

Standardized norm-referenced testing is no longer universally
accepted as the one best measure for determining learner suc-
cess. Although some American Indian/ Alaska Native students
have shown academic success in this type of testing, the contin-
ued exclusive use of norm- referenced assessments could short-
change many AI/AN learners. One caution, however, for those
involved in developing alternative assessment measures: The

1 / { . I 17 A

Sujuini Asms^mini in Iniuan Epucauon <v?Whai Ir, a Roach?

effort to improve cultural relevance of curriculum and assess-
ment must be guided by all stakeholders, including parents and
other tribal community members. w

The teaching and learning process for American Indian/Alaska
Native learners will improve as curricula and assessment become
more culturally relevant. Culturally relevant performance assess-
ment can help schools see language and culture as integral parts of a
total curriculum. According to iilise Trumbull Estrin and Sharon
Nelson-Barber of the Far West Laboratory,

Many Native students are thriving in programs that are based
on culturally responsive curriculum, instruction and assess-
ment. And— fortuitously— the current climate of reform pro-,
vides all of us an opportunity to reexamine old assumptions
and develop new bases of knowledge from which to re-create
instruction and assessment."

We must revisit the works of Karen Swisher and colleagues whose
special interest has been assessing the learning styles of Indian
students. We must reread the work of Richard Nichols, H who
concludes the practice of standardized testing has been hurtful to
American Indians and encourages educators to rely more heavily on
measures of attitude and skill mastery and to utilize student portfo-
lios. We must not forget the early questioners Dean Chavers and
Patricia Locke, who wrote “The Effects of testing on Native Ameri-
cans” for the National Commission on Testing and Public Policy in
1989.

Finally we must not forget that Indian people had a way to assess
the learning of their children long ago. It was perfomia nee-based
assessment.

Epilogue

The BIA has adopted the Learning Record as its new assessment
system. BIA-funded schools have the option to utilize the new as-
sessment systems of the states in which they are located or the
Learning Record. Teachers from M schools are currently involved in
extensive professional development activities to build leadership
capacity among schools choosing to use the Learning Record.

Other information from the reauthorization of the hulivhhuils

i *>r

Sands a J. fox

with Disabilities Education Act indicates a need for performance-
based assessment to better meet the needs of students with disabili-
ties, thus strengthening the requirement for such assessment prac-
tice. BIA-funded schools, as well as other schools, must provide for
fair testing of this population.

The California Learning Record was to be one model for the
classroom assessment part of a new, three-part California assess-
ment system. (To learn more about how that assessment system fell
to defeat before it could be fully implemented, read Crispeels’ “Edu-
cational Policy Implementation in a Shifting Political Climate: The
California Experience/') The since-renamed Learning Record As-
sessment System has been developed to provide a classroom assess-
ment that can be used to inform teaching and learning as well as to
serve public accountability purposes.

A three-year phase-in plan has been designed to help school staffs
implement the Learning Record in BIA schools. To follow progress,
contact a School Reform Team Leader, Office of Indian Education
Programs, Mail Stop 3512. 1849 C Street NYV, Washington, DC
20240, or visit the Learning Record Web site maintained by the
Center for Language in Learning: http://www.learningrecord/lrorg.

Notes

1. Sandra .1. Fox (Ogala Uikota) has worked for the Bureau of Indian
Affairs as a teacher, education specialist, and team leader.

2. FairTcst, Implementing Performance Assessments, 3.

3. See ITS. Department of Education, Assessment of Student Perfor-
mance.

4. Sacks. “Standardized 'resting." 24-31.

5. See Indian Nations At Risk Task Force, Indian Eat ions At Risk .

6. King. Standardization vs. Learners , 6.

7. See Bordeaux. Assessnu mt far American Indian and Alaska Entire
Learners.

8. See Barr, California Learning Record.

0. Falk and Darling-1 lammond. The Primary Language Record at P.S.

SOL 8 .

10. Bordeaux. Assessment for . \mcricun Indian and Alaska Entire
Learners , 2.

It. Kstrin and Nelson -Barber, Issues in C'ross-i'ultural Assessment, 7.

SlULHNI AsSISSMfcNI IN INDIAN EOUCAJION OR WhAI Is A ROACH?

12. For more about the learning styles of I mlian students, see Swisher and
Deylile, “Styles of Learning and Learning of Styles'* and Swisher, “American
Indian Learning Styles Survey.”

13. See Nichols, Continuous Evaluation of Native Education Pray rams.

Bibliography

Barr, Mary A. California Learning Record: A Handbook for Teachers, Grades
6-12. El Cajon, CA: University of California at San Diego Bookstore, 1995.

Bordeaux, Roger. Assessment for American Indian and Alaska Native Learn-
ers. ERIC Digest. Charleston, WV: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education
and Small Schools, 1995. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 385
424.

Chavers, Dean, and Patricia Locke. The E( facts of Testing on Native Americans.
Paper commissioned by the National Commission on resting and Public
Policy, April 1989. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 336 445.

Crispeels, ,L II. “Educational Policy Implementation in a Shifting Political
Climate: The California Experience. " A mcrican Educational Ri scan h .Jour-
nal \\ (1997): 453-81.

Kstrin, Elise Trumbull, and Sharon Nelson-Barber. Issues in Cross-Cultural
Assessment: American Indian and Alaska Native Students. Knowledge
Brief No. 12. San Francisco: Far West laboratory. 1995. ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. El) 388 484.

Fair lest. Implementing Performance Assessments: A Guide to Classroom,
School and System Reform. Cambridge, MA: National Center for Fair and
Open Testing, 1996.

Falk, Beverly, and Linda Darling- Hammond. The Primary Language Record
at PS. 261: How Assessment Transforms Teaching and Learning. New
York: National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and 'leaching,
Columbia University, Teachers College, 1993. ERIC Document Reproduc-
tion Service No. ED 358 964.

Indian Nations At Risk Task Force. Indian Nations At Risk: An Educational
Strategy for Action: Final Report of the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 1991. ERIC Document
Reproduction Service No. Id) 343 753.

King, Dorothy. Standardisation vs. Learners: The Abyss Hetween Assump-
tions. Chinle, A/., unpublished paper, 1989.

Nichols, Richard. Continuous Evaluation of Native Education Programs of
American Indian and Alaska Native Students. Washington. DC': U.S. De-
partment of Education, Indian Nations At Risk Task Force, 1991. ERIC
Document Reproduction Service* No. ED 343 760.

Olson, .John F. The I m 'lusion of Stud*. * nts u ith Pisahilitn v and l . unit* i d English
Proficient Students in Large-Scale Assessments: A Summary of Recent

S ANDO A J. Fc.\

Progress. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center
for Education Statistics, 1997.

Sacks, Peter. “Standardized Testing: Meritocracy's Crooked Yardstick." Change
29(2): 24-31(1997).

Swisher, Karen. “American Indian Learning Styles Survey: an Assessment of
Teacher Knowledge." Journal of Educational Issues of Language Minority
Students 13 (1994): 59-77.

Swisher, Karen, and Donna Deyhle. “Styles of Learning and Lear, ingot Styles:
Educational Conflicts for American Indian/Alaska Native Youth." Journal
of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 8(4): 345-60 (1987).

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improve-
ment. Assessment of Student Performance. Washington, DC: U.S. Depart-
ment of Education, 1997.

f I r
0-1

178

Chapter 8

Effective Counseling with American
Indian Students

Dkkokah Wktsit 1

A merican Indians and Alaska Natives are the Indigenous people
of this country; yet they remain among the smallest ethnic
groups in the United States. Despite interaction with the domi-
nant Kuropean American culture for more than 500 years, American
Indians continue to maintain their own cultural! > diifthiw worldviews.
Broadly defined, counseling has always been a part of American
Indian cultures, practiced in ways deemed appropriate to respective
worldviews. Professional counselors responsible for meeting the
needs of American Indian students must find ways to address a
variety of contexts effectively. Counseling, as practiced today, is
heavily influenced by European American cultural values and prac-
tices. To counsel American Indian students effectively, the profes-
sion needs to include authentic forms of counseling that are congru-
ent with American Indian cultures.

Role of Counseling

The field of counseling is reportedly growing in both size and
scope.- In general, counseling is viewed as a means of helping indi-

1 1 1 1 i

Deborah Weisit

viduals, groups, and families solve problems and reach their devel-
opmental potential as human beings. A number of theories guide
professional counselors, ranging from individual to family systems
orientations and from nondirective, person-centered to directive,
cognitive-behavioral orientations. Counseling has its origins in edu-
cation and normative developmental work with people, whereas
psychology and psychiatry are oriented more toward the diagnosis
and treatment of pathology.

According to the American School Counselor Association, school
counseling specifically provides

Direct services to students, staff and community to facilitate
self-understanding, interpersonal relationships, problem-solv-
ing and decision-making skills and responsibility in educa-
tional, career and avocational development.*

Further, school counselors focus upon preventive activities to ad-
dress situations before they cause problems. Counselors conduct
these activities in a variety of settings: counseling contexts (e.g.,
individual, group, family), classrooms (e.g., instruction, curriculum
development, teacher consultation), and community (e.g., dissemi-
nating education literature, organizing community forums). School
counselors work with students and families through remediation
activities and intervention. Other observers point out that the school
counselor, while assisting students with social and personal devel-
opment, has taken on the role of transmitter and developer of
multicultural awareness . 4

Within American Indian cultures, counseling has always played
an importan; role. For example, traditional Native healers have
strived to meet the counseling needs of the community and indi-
vidual. These traditional activities may not be recognized by Euro-
pean American observers as counseling due to differences in ap-
proach and process; yet the intent of providing help to individuals,
families, or groups is the same. Carolyn Attneave points out that,
even today, the presence and responsibilities of traditional healers
remain hidden to non-Native counselors. She attributes thus hidden
existence to the long history of persecution and superstition of Euro-
pean American society. However, counseling persists within Native
cultures . 1

* t . *

Efftcnvf Counsfung wuh American Indian Siuihnjs

American Indian Students

History. The identity of any group of people is rooted in its
history. Joseph E. Trimble and C. Fleming point out that knowing
the history of American Indian communities is essential to counsel-
ing American Indian people effectively. Native people have a history
that extends long before their contact with Europeans. However,
with regard to cross-cultural understanding between Indians and
non-Indians, history began with the first contact between the Euro-
peans who came to this country and the Native people who have
always lived here. The relationship between Europeans and Ameri-
can Indians has been rife with misunderstanding from the begin-
ning."

Many European Americans believed it was their destiny and God’s
plan for them to live here and use the land as they thought best. This
concept of manifest destiny completely disregarded the Native people
who already lived on the land. Contact with previously unknown
European diseases decimated the population of Native people. Mis-
sionaries sought to convert Native people to Christianity by turning
them away from and denigrating Native spiritual beliefs. As interac-
tion between European Americans and Native people increased, the
federal government implemented a policy of removing Native people,
particularly children, from their cultures. Often this meant not only
removing them from their homes but relocating them as far from
their homes as possible.

Hoarding schools such as Haskell in Lawrence, Kansas, and Carlisle
in Pennsylvania taught young Native children about European Ameri-
can culture. The boarding school system implanted negative mes-
sages about students' own cultures by forbidding Native languages
to be spoken, discouraging contact with families, and teaching a
curriculum based exclusively on European American culture. The
military model upon which these hoarding schools were based did
not provide positive, nurturing examples of authority figures nor did
it employ positive methods of discipline. The school environment
contrasted harshly with the homes from which children as young as
five years old had been removed. Native parents were viewed as
obstructions to the education of their children. The basic premise of
this education system was to remove the Indian from the person.

181

1 1 1 • .

Df \Aft " '• i’

instilling instead the values, practices, and beliefs of European Ameri-
can culture. Vestiges of this philosophy continue today.

Current status. Statistically American Indians are an excep-
tionally young population. The U.S. Bureau of the Census reports the
American Indian population increased 38 percent between 1980 and
1990 with a median age of 26, as compared to the overall I’.S.
median age of 33. American Indian school enrollment was expected
to increase by 29 percent between 1985 and 1995. Because a signifi-
cant portion of tins population is, or will be, of childbearing age.
continued population growth is anticipated. The number of Ameri-
can Indian students in the formal education system will continue to
increase, as will the need to address the counseling demands and
concerns of this population."

Acculturation. Acculturation is the extent to which an Ameri-
can Indian (or any person from another culture) identifies with the
attitudes, behaviors, and values of the dominant culture and vice
versa. The mere existence of other cultures increases the potential
for and level of acculturation for all people. For American Indians,
who have had European American culture imposed upon them, the
question is not whether they have aeeuliurated but to what degree. It
is also important to acknowledge that cultures, even traditional
Native cultures, are never stagnant. This is evidenced by the incor-
poration of tools or products provided by European American cul-
ture in even the most sacred American Indian ceremonies.

Further, the extensive variations among American Indian tribal
cultures must be recognized. There are 308 federally recognized
tribes in the Foiled Stales. 'These tribes can differ amongst one
another as much as the English and Italians or the Spanish and
Turks differ. Tribes differ in many ways, including languages, be-
liefs, expectations, gender roles, customs, and ceremonies. Often
this cultural diversity within American Indian populations is over-
looked by European Americans, many of whom believe in what T. t\
Thomason refers to as the “myth of homogeneity. " s

In addition to using boarding schools for assimilation, the federal
government sponsored relocation programs to move tribal citizens
to urban areas. Although mam participants of the relocation pro-
grams returned to their reservation communities, a number of Ameri-
can Indians remained in the cities. Todav a limited reservation land

182

Enrciivf CouNSUif«- wuh Aml^ican Indian Simoom's

base and high unemployment on reservations also pressure tribal
members to move to urban areas. This urban migration is predicted
to continue increasing. According to a 1990 census report, 62 per-
cent of American Indians live away from their tribal land bases:
therefore, simply living away from the reservation does not mean
counselors will not encounter American Indians. Counselors must
take care to ascertain the presence of Native students in mainstream
schools and not assume erroneously that none attend their school
just because they are in an urban setting. Nor can it be assumed that
Native students attending an urban school have lost their cultural
identities/*

Teresa Davis LalTomboise and Kathryn Graff Low point out that
"as Indian youth enter school, they often feel stranded between two
cultures. Many of them speak an entirely different first language,
practice an entirely different religion, and hold different cultural
values than the dominant culture/'"’ Counselors need to recognize
American Indian students experience different levels of accultura-
tion and that they are expected to function in a school system based
upon Kuropcan American culture. Typically the curriculum reflects
little American Indian history or culture, and that which is included
is from the Kuropcan American perspective.

Cross-Cultural Counseling

Since the early 1970s professional awareness of cultural factors
and their relevance to the counseling process has increased. “ This
awareness includes a growing realization that expectations for coun-
selor and client roles have been influenced almost exclusively by
Western Kuropcan models and worldviews. While these models have
proven effective in working with members of Kuropcan American
society, they have been less effective with other ethnicities. Counse-
lors need to remember that American Indians and other ethnic
minorities are socialized to interpret their experiences in the world
much differently than the majority culture.

Cultural identity. The vast majority of American Indians has
little desire to assimilate into Kuropcan American culture. The sense
of cultural and tribal belonging experienced by American Indians is
an extremely important aspect of their identity, .lean S. Khinney and
Mary .lane Kothcram define ethnic identity as "one’s sense of be-

183 1 [J'j

longing to an ethnic group and the part of one’s thinking, percep-
tions, feelings, and behavior that is due to ethnic group member-
ship.” Some believe this sense of identity begins bv age three or four;
others believe that even infants can recognize strangers of a different
ethnic group. School counselors need to recognize the role of ethnic
identity in the development of self-esteem and self-concept. Studies
frequently cite the impact of low self-esteem and poor self-concept
on dysfunctional behaviors with American Indian students. 11 '

Frances Aboud reports that only 15 percent of the studies she
reviewed indicate that American Indian children show a preference
for their own ethnic group. Native children express a strong prefer-
ence for European American culture until at least middle childhood.
This preference comes at the expense of developing positive atti-
tudes about their own cultural groups. In contrast, Aboud says,
“White children typically hold negative attitudes toward other groups
from 4 years of agc.” ,: These findings carry an imp* nant message.
School counselors must assist teachers, administrators, and stu-
dents (both Native and non-Nativc) to develop positive self-esteem
and positive cultural self-concepts in students. In addition, all chil-
dren must be taught to value other cultures. Because the develop-
ment of cultural identity and attitudes about other cultural groups
begins at such an early age, counselors must prepare schools to
address these issues from the student's first day of enrollment.
People tend to avoid dissimilar groups, and Aboud suggests children
react more intensely to dissimilarities because they lack the ability to
.reconcile different ethnic preferences and reach the conclusion that
it is all right for people to be different. School counselors aware of
this situation need to work with teachers and other school personnel
prior to enrollment and develop strategies to assist children in valu-
ing ethnic and cultural differences.

Cultural differences. Many people believe that alt values are
present in all cultures; however, the priority or emphasis placed on
each respective value can vary. For example, a sense of family is
valued by all cultures, cultures differ over the degree to which in-
volvement with family takes precedence over other values (e.g.,
employment, recreation ). Individuals or groups within a culture
may also place greater emphasis on one particular value than gener-

4 i .

184

EtfK hvfe Counm nNi> vm!h American Indian Siudenjs

ally prescribed by the rest of society. It is important to acknowledge
this to avoid oversimplifying this discussion.

Values can be described as social guideposts indicating cultural
norms for appropriate behavior and. revealing what is important,
what is expected, and what is desired by a particular society. Their
deep-seated nature renders values so much a part of the background
they seem almost invisible until confronted with a clashing value. So
much of what we consider universal is very culture specific . 14

American Indian students are likely to subscribe to some dis-

tinctly different values from non-Native counselors, especially those
students more grounded in their respective Native cultures. Since
the counseling setting relies on effective communication and the
counselors ability to “inner-view" the client, the opportunity for
misunderstanding heightens when values differ. Behaviors of Ameri-
can Indian students can easily be misinterpreted if the counselor is
unaware of such differences. For example, Trimble observes, “Many
young Indians are not socialized to expound on inner thoughts and

feelings. Thus, reliance on a client's ability to achieve insight would

be a mistake ." 15

One of the primary values taught by the formal education system
is time management. Teachers and administrators expect students
to arrive at school prior to the beginning of classes, turn in all
assignments according to a schedule, and think in terms of future
orientation. Students receive penalties if they are tardy or if they
think and act only in terms of the present. 'Phis creates a dichotomy
because Native cultures emphasize a natural order of the world in
which events happen when they arc supposed to happen. For in-
stance, Native ceremonies begin when all have arrived who need or
are expected to be tnere. Contrast this with a mainstream church
service or school function that begins punctually at the appointed
hour and minute. Native cultures are rooted in the past, and careful
attention is paid to the historical nature and ancestral meaning of
events and relationships. School counselors must assist schools and
Native students in recognizing this difference and find ways to mini-
mize the negative impact on students. Johanna Nel suggests empha-
sizing to Native students the need to show respect for the teacher by
being punctual. But it is also important for counselors to educate
teachers and administrators to acknowledge this difference bv exer-
cising leniency in their policies. 1 '*

18ft 1

A second European American value reflected in schools is comple-
tion of tasks, or goal orientation. Great importance is placed on
accomplishing tasks or mastering skills to reach specific goals within
a prescribed time frame. For example, all students are expected to
demonstrate mastery of certain mathematical skills by third grade.
While this value has fostered many achievements, it often conflicts
with Native cultures, which place greater emphasis upon relation-
ships. School counselors aware of this value difference will be able to
assist schools and students when it creates conflicts. For example,
when faced with the choice between completing a homework assign-
ment or visiting with friends or relatives who stop by, Native culture
values the relationship with the guests above other tasks. Counselors
need to work with teachers, parents, and students to resolve these
types of conflicts, most likely on a case-by-case basis.

A third value that often creates conflict in schools relates to group
versus individual accomplishments. European American culture
places great emphasis on individual accomplishments. Classroom
environments reinforce this value hy encouraging students to com-
pete with one another to determine which student is the best, via
spelling bees, attendance charts, gold stars, letter grades, and so
forth. Native cultures value group accomplishments more highly,
working together for the common good. Counselors can assist teach-
ers in recognizing the potential for and minimizing value conflict.
Phinney and Rothcrani report studies of success where multiethnic
teams have worked together to complete class assignments in which
interdependence is required. A technique recommended in their
studies is the “jigsaw” method, which requires interdependence
among students, each of whom must learn part of an assignment and
teach it to the other group members. r

Conflict often arises in school settings over a fourth value, family
orientation. Counselors, in particular, need to attain a clear under-
standing of the value many Native people place on family. European
American culture emphasizes the concept of the nuclear family,
which consists primarily of a mother, father, and children. Parents
are primary care providers and are held responsible for their children's
actions, including their accomplishments and mistakes. Laws em-
bodying the European American culture require children to have
parental consent until the ages of 16, 18, or 2! depending upon the
issue and stale of residence.

1 t 186

Effecjivf Counseling with American Indian Siudenis

Within most, if not all, traditional American Indian cultural con-
texts, the family is far more extended, including grandparents, aunts
(who may have the same authority as a child’s biological mother),
uncles (who may have a role similar to a child’s biological father),
great-aunts (frequently considered grandmothers), great uncles (fre-
quently considered grandfathers), and cousins (first cousins may
have the same role as a child’s sibling and thus be considered broth-
ers and sisters). Native family systems also incorporate biologically
unrelated family members. For example, one can designate a woman
as a sister, and that person will be considered a relative by other
family members. This person may be referred to as “my sister,
Indian way.’’ These informal adoptees need to be recognized as
family members. Whereas the specific nature of such relationships
can be confusing to an inexperienced counselor, it is important to
realize that it is the perception of a relationship that is significant . 18

The family is of such importance in Native cultures that u is
expected to take priority over other values such as recreation, school,
or even employment, depending upon the situation. If a student is
needed at home to help a sick family member, that takes priority. If a
family member is hospitalized, the whole family may stand vigil until
they are assured the person is in full recovery. Counselors must
recognize the strength of this value and the implications within the
school setting in working with American Indian students and fami-
lies.

This extended family network has other implications in working
with American Indian students, adding complexity to identifying a
student’s primary caretaker. While American Indian families are
subject to laws that hold biological parents responsible for their
children, from a Native perspective, such responsibility may be
shared. The child is the responsibility of the family; thus, a grand-
parent, aunt, or older sibling may be the primary caretaker. Conse-
quently counselors must be able to identify which members of the
family need to be included when working with American Indian
students. The perceived relationship among the extended family
members is more important than the biological connection.

Most literature on counseling American Indians describes these
differences between Native and Kuropean American cultural values
plus several others, including sharing versus materialism, being
versus doing, harmony with nature versus mastery over nature.

187

tradition versus technology and progress , humility versus arro-
gance, and reverence for elders. The ability to recognize these value
differences and their deep underlying significance is extremely im-
portant for effective cross-cultural counseling. Without this aware-
ness and understanding, counselors wilt not recognize the meaning
of students' behaviors resulting from such values. This lack of under-
standing can contribute to resistance to counseling processes such
as self-disclosure. 1 w

While American Indians share many commonalities in their his-
tory and general value orientations, it is important to remember
there are tribal differences. Tribal specific knowledge cannot be
transported from one tribe to another. For example, firsthand knowl-
edge about the Navajo culture cannot be transferred to the Dakota of
South Dakota without significant modification. However, a general
orientation can provide a foundation from which to build more
tribally specific knowledge. ,n

Cross-cultural competencies. Deraid W. Sue and colleagues
identify three areas of competence that a culturally skilled psycholo-
gist must possess, which also holds true for related disciplines such
as school counseling. These areas include (I) awareness of diversity
in beliefs and attitudes (e.g., need to move from being unaware to
being aware of personal and other cultural values), (2) knowledge
(e.g., need to understand the U.S. sociopolitical system and its im-
pact on other cultural groups), and (3) skills (e.g., ability to interpret
and respond to a wide range of verbal and nonverbal communica-
tion). Other observers have built on these observations, pointing out
the need for counselors to use these competencies in working spe-
cifically with American Indians. Cultural knowledge can enable dif-
ferent interpretations of behavioral patterns. For example, Dakota
people accept the behavior of “pouting, which allows an individual
to go off alone for a time to reflect on his or her own behavior and the
behavior of others. If a counselor lacks cultural awareness, knowl-
edge, and skills, he or she might interfere with a behavior that has a
function within this tribal context. ’’

Effective Counseling Strategies

Hstablishing trust and rapport. The community's perception
of the counseling profession is important. Uarhctta Lockhart notes

4 .

188

E»Ff'.:iiy£ Cc-uNagtiUi. ai'h Am{ ftiC^N Indian Si'Jf.iN-s

American Indian populations hold a historical mistrust of main-
stream systems. This mistrust can extend to institutions responsible
for counseling services and the counselors whom they have trained.
Counseling services for American Indians have been provided pri-
marily by public schools, Indian Health Services, and the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, with the vast majority of counselors being of Euro-
pean American descent. LaFromboise and Low remind us that Ameri-
can Indians tend to look first to their extended family to solve
problems rather than conventional counseling services, so families
need to be included in successful interventions."

Counselors need to recognize and address cultural mistrust at the
individual, school, and general system levels. Researchers have found
that mistrust of European Americans is a major obstacle in delivery
of cross-cultural mental health services and that American Indians
seldom look to typical mainstream counseling to improve their lives.
It is evident that using these services depends to a great extent on the
reputation of past and current counseling programs and the profes-
sionals themselves. For example, it the previous school counselor
had been well respected in the community, people would anticipate
the same types of experiences. If, on the other hand, people have had
negative experiences, the next counselor would face the difficult
challenge of establishing trust. M

Because establishing trust is so essential to the success of counsel-

ing relationships, counselors need to know how to go about it in
Native communities. A counselor new to the community is an out-
sider and can expect a high degree of scrutiny by the community.
This begins from the moment of first contact with an American
Indian community. For example, one counselor recently emploved
in an American Indian community was approached by a woman she

had not previously met. The counselor was shocked to find out that
the woman already knew not only that she was a counselor but also
what kind of vehicle she drove, her marital status, and other per-
sonal information. American Indian reservation communities are
quick to share information about anyone who is new to their area,
and counselors are not immune from this type of scrutiny. While it is
common for clients to make judgments about their counselors, this
is especially true in cross-cultural situations. Clients begin sizing up
counselors at the point of initial contact by keenly observing the way
in which they are greeted, the counselors manner of dress, the

1 ftO l / i I

setting for the session, the manner of introduction (e.g., use of
formal title or first name), physical appearance, ethnicity, and so
forth. Lockhart cautions that counselors are watched very closely tor
inconsistencies and incongruencies . J4

Clear, effective communication is essential for establishing trust
and rapport with any client and especially important in cross-cultural
settings where communication can he so easily misinterpreted.
Geraldine Youngman and Margaret Sadongei recommend approach-
ing the initial session very slowly to allow the student to unfold at his
or her own pace. Counselors are also cautioned that the student
likely will find self-disclosure inconsistent with tribal traditions.
Trimble reports that “many young Indians are not socialized to
expound on inner thoughts and feelings." In many Native cultures,
the counselor (in traditional cultural terms) is assigned the role of
expert. The client presents the problem, whereby it is the responsi-
bility of the healer (e.g., counselor) to diagnose the problem and
provide a solution. Direct questioning also may not be acceptable
within the American Indian student's culture. Counselors arc ad-
vised not to push for self-disclosure but to ask students for help in
defining the problem in hopes this will foster trust and rapport early
in the relationship. Without self-disclosure, counselors must learn
to observe carefully and rely on nonverbal communication clues
rather than verbal indicators. Thomason recommends the use of
humor, self-disclosure by the counselor, and warmth to establish
trust.-*

In greeting an American Indian student, it is important to ac-
knowledge the student s tribal affiliation. The sense of tribal identity
can he very important to a more traditional person. This is especially
true if more than one tribe is represented in the school population.
Kqually important is the identification of the student's family sys-
tem. This can be accomplished by telling the student which family
members are known by the counselor based on his or her knowledge
of the community (e.g., “Is Henry Standing Elk your cousin?" "Are
you related to Molly Begay, who works at the store?") The manner in
which this is acknowledged depends upon the counselor’s assess-
ment of the client's level ol acculturation.

The first contact may need to be formal enough that the student
knows he or she is being counseled. Thomason recommends counsc-

( ) i

ion

Emcnvfc CouNSutNG v\nt» Avum an Ini man Summis

lors take a gentle, noninvasive approach to create an atmosphere of
acceptance in which the American Indian student feels comfortable.
He also recommends counselors avoid direct questioning.-'’

Counseling styles. There is little agreement about which style
■ of counseling is best for American Indian clients. A study involving
50 University of Oklahoma students, half of whom identified them-
selves as American Indian and half as non-Indian, tested an experi-
mental communication style against a directive style. Kxpcrimcntal
style communication was characterized bv responses that empha-
sized approval/ reassurance and self-disclosure while avoiding open-
ended questions. A directive style of communication was character-
ized by a high reliance on direct guidance and open question re-
sponses while de-emphasizing self-disclosure. The researchers found
that American Indian college students prefer experimental counse-
lor communication, while a directive style is preferred by non-Indian
students. However, other research advises against using a nondirec-
tive (client-centered) counseling approach with American Indians.
Alonzo Spang suggests an eclectic or directive counseling approach,
which is most effective when based upon the counselor's knowledge
of the American Indian culture. LalTomboise and colleagues point
out that many Native clients expect a different approach from that
used in traditional therapy. These researchers found that Indian
adolescents hope the counselor is an expert who can give practical
advice about their problems.-”

A number of researchers strongly recommend group counseling
as a preferred counseling style for American Indians as it is more
reflective of the cultural worldview of this population. The sense of
group, rather than the individual, is highly valued in most American
Indian cultures. This is also very consistent with school counseling
practices in which group work is used frequently with students.
Thomason also recommends family counseling whenever possible. - s

Another factor school counselors need to consider in developing
effective counseling strategies is the need to be involved in the
Native community itself. It is important to attend community activi-
ties, social events, and tribal ceremonies to the greatest degree pos-
sible. Of course, culturally sensitive school counselors should seek
out knowledge about the appropriateness of outsider attendance at
tribal ceremonies beyond the generally public powwow or other

191

f • / ' •

D*r.. ? -ah W; '.S-'.

social dances. In working with European American counselors who
live on or near Indian reservations, it is surprising how many coun-
selors have never attended a powwow or have done so only once or
twice. To get a true sense of the student's world, it is necessary to
experience that world as much as possible. In many Native commu-
nities, tribal members have their own names for particular areas of
the community, and the only way to find out about these areas is to
visit them. Often the only way to understand the importance of tribal
activities is to attend them. While school counselors are encouraged
to attend Native-oriented activities, they should participate with
caution. If possible, approach these occasions from the Native cul-
tural perspective in which unfamiliar situations are observed until
there is a reason to be invited to participate.

One school official used the extended family system and the strong
respect most Native cultures have for their elders quite effectively.
The school library was displaying photographs of many tribal lead-
ers from early history to contemporary times. The school official
would take students to a private area of the library to discuss con-
cerns with them. In prefacing his remarks, he would remind the
students of their relatives who were leaders of the community and
the things they had accomplished. If he needed to instill a sense of
pride or commitment, he would wait until the students were ready to
hear such a message and then draw upon their relatives' accomplish-
ments to remind them of their places in the community and tribe.
'Hi is tactic requires an extensive knowledge of a tribe’s history and
extended family systems.

Overall, the establishment of trust anti rapport is an ongoing
process that can quickly he destroyed if violated. It is also a process
that has strong historic roots with American Indian people, creating
additional challenges in cross-cultural situations.

Confidentiality. Confidentiality is considered a critical dement
in establishing trust and rapport in counseling situations. Counse-
lors who struggle to find more effective strategies for working with
American Indian students must carefully examine the challenges
posed by confidentiality. The professional ethical and legal stan-
dards of confidentiality are the same with this population as with
other clients. However, the nature of communication patterns and
extended family systems creates the need lo reflect on this factor in

192

Ef fK-HVfc Co^NSHlNG iVUm AN lNl»AN SlUOlMb

counseling Native students. Within many traditional Native family
systems, communication patterns are quite indirect, For example, if
a son is not pleased with his mothers actions, he cannot tell her
directly, although he can go to another person such as an aunt. The
aunt can then go to the mother to explain the son's concerns. The
mother, in turn, can respond to her son through the aunt. While this
pattern of communication avoids direct conflict and contributes to
the sense of harmony among relationships, it also can confuse the
communication process. It is important for school counselors to be
aware of this communication pattern and be alert for how they may-
be drawn into it. For example, if a member of a student’s family asks
the school counselor whether it would be a good idea for Johnny to
attend a particular function, the family member may he seeking a
way to express his or her own opinion by saying the counselor said it
was a good idea. Counselors must recognize the indirect communi-
cation pattern in place and become adept at interpreting it accu-
rately.

School counselors must also exercise care in what they communi-
cate within extended family systems. Certainly reiterating the rules
of confidentiality on a regular basis helps everyone involved clarify
boundaries. While family system theory helps define how relatively
nuclear families work, school counselors generally work with far
more family members than in a European American cultural system,
and as indicated earlier, some of these family members are recog-
nized as such only within the family system. Counselors must find
ways to communicate effectively within existing communication pat-
terns and avoid violating their client's right to confidentiality.

The possibility of dual roles in small reservation communities is
also a factor in maintaining the students’ rights to confidentiality. It
is a chaMenge in any small community where everyone knows every-
one else. T his will likely create another role for school counselors
who try to be visible in the Native community and to attend tribal
activities to establish trust and rapport. Again, it is important for
counselors to remember they will be scrutinized for what they say
and do within the community. Additional caution needs to he exer-
cised to ensure that no information can he attributed back to some-
thing the counselor has said, which could be construed as violating
students' confidentiality. “

193. M

Environmental factors: Racism and prejudice. Racism and
prejudice are realities in the world of American Indians. Counselors
need to remember this fact when developing effective counseling
strategies. As indicated by previously cited research, counselors can
work with the school system and community to help all students
recognize the value of ethnic diversity. Counselors should develop
group and class exercises to reinforce students' self-esteem and self-
worth. Start simply with exercises that create an awareness by stu-
dents and educators that each person has a culture. One such exer-
cise is to provide all students, teachers, or administrators with draw-
ing materials and ask them to draw their culture within a five- to ten-
minute time frame. The results will promote extensive discussion.
Value clarification exercises also draw attention to cultural differ-
ences and the need to res net t diversity without judging others.* 40
Counselors must acknowledge that racism and prejudice exist
and must be dealt with by all concerned. Deraid and David Sue point
out, “Racism is alive, well, and thriving in the United States.” 41
Awareness is one step but a more active stance would he more
conducive to American Indian students' well-being. Racism ranges
from covert, found in institutional forms of racism, to overt biases,
expressed at the individual level; this needs to be recognized by
school counselors. A review is needed of school policies as well as
testing tools used with American Indian students, including stan-
dardized counseling instruments and ability or IQ testing (e.g., Iowa
Basic Skills Test, ACT, SAT. and so forth).

Charles Ridley's work on the impact of racism in counseling iden-
tifies five assumptions:

(I) racism is reflected in behavior, (2) racist acts can he per-
formed by prejudiced and nonprejudiced people | emphasis
added 1, (B) no one ethnic group is responsible for racism, (4)
the determination as to a racist act is in the consequences and
not the causes of the behavior, and (5) power is the toree that is
necessary for racism to continue. ,J

School counselors must thoroughly understand racism and preju-
dice to address them effectively. This is especially true in situations
where many people are unaware that their behavior in cross-cultural
situations can frequently result in unintentional racism.

194

EOK'ti'.l CooNSEr.V • \V.ln A»/f S h Cl MS

Summary

Counseling has always been a part of American Indian culture.
Only recently has the European American counseling establishment
recognized the role of culture in counseling. Developing a historical
understanding of American Indians is important to working with
American Indian students. It is also important for school counselors
to recognize the tremendous diversity among and within American
Indian tribes and the impact of acculturation factors and cultural
identity issues. The cultural differences between American Indian
and European American students are very real and require an aware-
ness of value differences and the implications of a few of the primary
values described herein. School counselors need to obtain cross-
cultural competencies to be effective. The establishment of trust and
rapport, counseling styles, confidentiality, and dealing with the en-
vironmental factors of racism and prejudice are essential elements
of a counselor's knowledge base.

Notes

1. Deborah Wetsit (Assinibome) holds a doctorate in counseling (empha-
sis in cross-cultural counseling), is a former faculty member at the University
of Montana, and is the former dean of instruction at Haskell Indian Nations
University. She is the distance learning coordinator for the Montana Consor-
tium and works extensively with In-Care Network, Inc.

2. See Gladding, Counseling and Peterson and Nisenhoiz, Orientation to
C 'ounseling.

3. American School Counselor Association. Sehooi Counselor and Com-
pre/icnsii t ( 'oanseiing, 1 .

4. See Gladding, Counseling and Gibson, Mitchell, and Basile. C hansel-
ing in the Elementary Sehooi .

5. See Attneave, "American Indians."

(>. See Trimble and Fleming, "Providing Counseling Services."

7. See Palsano, We the . . . Fit si A met ic 'a ns and Lee, "School Counseling.’

8. Thomason, “Counseling Native American Students." 109.

9. See Hillahrant and others, "Native American Education."

to. I HiFromhoisc and Low, "American Indian Children," 119.

11. See Draguns, “Dilemmas and Choices"; Atkinson, Morten, and Sue,
( 'ounseling American Minorities and Sue and Sue, ( 'ot/nse/ing the Culturally
l Efferent.

195

12. Phinney and Rotheram, “Children s Ethnic Socialization. “ 13. See also
Ahoud, “Development of Ethnic Self-Identification": Katz. "Developmental
and Social Processes”; Youngman and Sadongei, “Counseling the American
Indian Child": Trimble. “A Cognitive- Behavioral Approach”; and Nel, "Pre-
venting School Failure: The Native American Child.”

13- Ahoud, “Development of Ethnic Self-Identification,” 45.

14. See Samovar and Porter, Communication between Cultures.

15. Trimble. “Value Differentials” (1976). 204. See also Peterson and
Nisenholz, Orientation to Counseling.

16. See Nel. “Preventing School Failure.”

17. See Phinney and Rotheram, “Children s Ethnic Socialization.”

18. Tafoya's “Coyote's Eyes” provides an excellent overview of Native
family systems in comparison to European American family systems.

19. See /.intz, education Across Cultures r, Bryde, Indian Students and
Guidance: ; Trimble. “Value Differentials" (1976); LaFromboise, Trimble, and
Mohatt. "Counseling Interventions”; Trimble and Fleming, “Providing Coun-
seling”: IxiFromboise and Low, “American Indian Children”; and Herring.
"Counseling Native American Youth."

20. See Attneave. “American Indians."

21. Deraid Wing Sue and others, “Cross-Cultural Counseling Competen-
cies,” 45-52. See also Herring, "Counseling Native American Youth”:
I.a Fromboise, Trimble, and Mohatt. “Counseling Intervent ions"; Trimble and
Fleming. “Prt viding Counseling"; Trimble. “Value Differentials” (19 T 6):
Dodd, Dynamics of Intercultural Communication ; Atkinson, Morten, and
Sue. C 'ounscliny American Minorities: Samovar and Porter, C 'onununication
between t 'ultures: and Attneave. “American Indians."

22. See Lockhart, "Historic Distrust": LaFromboise and Low, "American
Indian Children": and Everett. Proctor, and Cartmell. "Providing Psychologi-
cal Services.”

23. See UilTomboise. “American Indian Mental Health Policy” and
Welsit, "Counseling Preferences.”

24. See Lewis and Ho. “Social Work” and Lockhart, "Historic Distrust.”

25. Youngman and Sadongei. "Counseling the American Indian Child.”
2~3-7“: Trimble. "Value Differentials” (19~6). 204. See also Lockhart. "His-
toric Distrust”; I.aFromboisc. Trimble, and Mohatt, "Counseling Interven-
tions”: LaFromboise and Low. "American Indian Children"; and Thomason.
“Counseling Native American Students.”

26. See Lockhart. “Historic Distrust" and Thomason. “Counseling Native
American Students.”

2~\ See Dauphinais. Dauphinais, and Rowe, “Effects of Race"; Spang,
“Counseling the American Indian": and LaFromboise. Trimble, and Mohatt.
"Counseling Interventions.”

2S. See Attneave. “American Indians”; Lewis and Ho, “Social Work”;
Dufrene and Coleman. “Counseling Native Americans”; and Thomason,
“Counseling Native American Students.”

( i / 1 Q<5

Emcuvf CoUNSlUNG WITH AMtMCAN INDIAN SlUDLNIS

29. Davis and Ritchie, "Confidentiality.”

30. See Aboud, “Development of Ethnic Self-Identification” and Katz.
“Developmental and Social Processes.”

31. Sue and Sue, Counseling the Culturally Different , 4.

32. Ridley. “Racism in Counseling." 57-53.

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Attneave. Carolyn L. “American Indians and Alaska Native Families: Emigrants
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Davis, Tom, and Martin Ritchie. “Confidentiality and the School Counselor: A
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Co., 1963-

200

Chapter 9

The Role of Social Work in Advancing
the Practice of Indigenous Education

Obstacles and Promises in
Empowerment-Oriented Social Work

Practice

Miciiakl J. Yellow Bird

AND

VkNIDA ClIENAl'LT 1

E ducation for Indigenous children should empower them to
become “full participants in their communities, the country,
and the world. However, a major barrier to empowerment
for Indigenous peoples is their history of intellectual and cultural
oppression in European American schools. Social workers who ac-
cept the challenge of rising above their own profession's past in-
volvement in this history can heip Indigenous peoples change their
children’s future.

Schools have generally approached the education of Indigenous
children from a deficit model, based upon the belief that First Na-
tions children have “lacked the innate intelligence to succeed in
school." 1 Deficit thinking continues today hut is couched in slightly

different terms. Social workers and educators alike often identify
Indigenous children as an “at-risk” or “vulnerable" school popula-
tion because of high drop-out rates and low academic achievement.
This labeling is individualized to students and rarely takes into
account the larger political barriers and dynamics that maintain
oppression. 5 Solving personal problems on an individual level, using
individual solutions, is important. However, structural approaches
aimed at reducing institutional racism and oppression are equally
important. Problems are encompassed by both individual and struc-
tural frameworks. The professional mission of social work and the
roles of social workers can advance the practice of Indigenous educa-
tion. Empowerment-oriented social work practices illustrate bow
this is possible. The extent to which social workers can help remains
to be seen. However, to create change, educators interested in ad-
vancing Indigenous education must develop strong collaborative
relationships with social workers, whether they are based in schools
or in other agencies. Educators and social workers with progressive,
courageous, and collaborative attitudes and an interest in overturn-
ing oppressive aspects of Indigenous education will make powerful
contributions.

Advancing the Practice of Indigenous Education: A
Social Work Perspective

'Phe purpose of what we call social work is to help people sur-
mount personal and environmental harriers that inhibit growth,
development, and adaptive functioning. The role of social work in
advancing Indigenous education is. then, (l) to help Indigenous
children and families resolve persona/ and family circumstances
that prevent students from achieving the highest levels of learning
and education and (2) to help students, parents, and communities
understand and take action to k)\x'XV()\\\c political and institutional
harriers and oppressive conditions that prevent children and their
families from achieving the highest levels of learning, education, and
well-being. •

Social workers should refer to or provide culturally sensitise ser-
vices that assist with such issues as communicating; parenting: re-
solving conflicts: and nurturing spiritual, emotional, physical, and
intellectual development. Social workers should also use their pro-

2 1 ;•>

r jm

Thf Rolf ci Scxtiai Woi-'k in Advancing mi Pi?ac nu of Iniv Eiha as ion

fessional skills and knowledge to mobilize action against oppressive
environmental conditions in the school or community that produce
racism, substance abuse, and poverty.

Empowerment Theories, Principles, Processes, and
Approaches

Empowerment is used to describe much of what is done in social
work, but everything that is done is not empowering. Julian Rappaport
writes, “To be committed to an empowerment agenda, is to be com-
mitted to identify, facilitate, or create contexts in which heretofore
silent and isolated people, those who are ‘outsiders' in various set-
tings, organizations, and communities gain understanding, voice,
and influence over decisions that affect their lives."'*

Theories of empowerment help explain how forces of discrimina-
tion and oppression work in today's society. By understanding these
forces, people can figure out practical ways to work toward a more
just society. These theories are important to advancing Indigenous
education because they

• help explain social class issues and oppression;

• identify the barriers that keep people in a state of powerless-
ness;

• offer students value frameworks for promoting human empow-
erment and liberation;

find practical ways to take down barriers and achieve social
justice;

build on people’s strengths, resiliency, and resources."

The social work literature contains many definitions of empower-
ment: a process, multilevel construct, service-delivery approach, or
way to build on strengths of people and communities.”

Empowerment as a process. Lorraine Gutierrez says, “Em-
powerment involves the process of increasing personal, interper-
sonal, or political power so that individuals, families, and communi-
ties can take action to improve their situations." Gutierrez also re-
gards several factors as important to empowerment: developing
critical consciousness (ability to perceive social, economic, and po-

Mit.liAl! J. YlllOvV & VlNU'A C»«tNAUU

litical forces that affect people), reducing self-blame, assuming per-
sonal responsibility for change, and enhancing people’s confidence
and skill in making change happen.* 1

Barbara Solomon thinks of empowerment as a process in which
the social worker engages in a set of activities with clients to reduce
the powerlessness they experience as members of a stigmatized
group. The social worker and client first identify the power blocks
contributing to the problem. The social worker then helps the client
develop and begin using specific strategies to reduce the effects of
the client s long-term belief in his or her own incompetence or
worthlessness and overcome the ongoing political, economic, and
social barriers that stand in the client’s way.

Empowerment as a multilevel construct. Karla Mi ley.
Michael O'Melia, and Brenda DuBois explain:

On a pcrsonal\Q\c\ empowerment refers to a subjective state of
mind, feeling competent and experiencing a sense of control;
on a political level, it refers to the objective reality of opportu-
nities in societal structures and the reallocation of power
through a modification of social structures. 10

Judith A. B. Lee suggests empowerment rests on three interlock-
ing dimensions: (1) developing a positive and potent sense of self; (2)
gaining a body of knowledge and detecting and understanding social
and political realities; and (3) developing the practical ability to
attain personal and group goals.

Empowerment as a social work approach. Lee focuses on
seven key principles of empowerment practice:

L All oppression is destructive of life and should be challenged by
social workers and clients.

2. The social worker should not lose sight of the larger context
when working with people in situations of oppression.

3. People empower themselves (social workers should assist).

4. People who share common ground need each other to attain
empowerment.

fi. Social workers should establish an “I and 1" relationship with
clients.

6. Social workers should encourage the client to speak his or her
own words.

204

Tme Ron o { Son At Wopk ;n Advancing ?i*e Pwachl* of Indio-inci'S Edik -VioN

7. Social workers should maintain a social change focus. 11

Building on strengths. The strengths perspective of social
work focuses on what people, communities, and cultures have versus
what they do not have. Almost everything imaginable can be a
strength: what people know and learn about themselves; knowledge,
talents, cultural customs, and beliefs; personal qualities; and pride.
This empowering perspective is founded o?i the following assump-
tions:

• Despite life’s problems, all people and environments possess
strengths that can be used to improve the quality of clients’
lives.

• Client motivation is based on fostering client strengths.

• Individuals and groups are more likely to continue, autono-
mous development and growth when it is supported bv their
own capacities, knowledge, and skills.

• The social worker does not Fill the role of “expert." Discovering
strengths requires cooperative collaboration between clients
and workers.

• Social workers must avoid the victim mind-set and the tempta-
tion to "blame the victim"; instead, they should focus on how
the individual has managed to survive in an oppressive envi-
ronment.

• Any environment, no matter how harsh, contains resources. 1 * 1

These ideas can guide social workers and educators as they inte-
grate their efforts and collaborate with Indigenous communities to
overcome oppressive circumstances and advance the practice of
Indigenous education.

What Is Social Work?

It is important for educators to understand the mission, role, and
professional activities of social work and social workers so they can
identify areas of possible collaboration. 'Flic social work profession
uses several definitions to define its scope and mission. The Code of
Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the
largest professional social work organization in the United States,
states this:

nr\ff 1 ( ,

M« ‘<-vi J. Yniow Bw & \A f Chna. ii

The primary mission of the social work profession is to en-
hance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs
of all people, with particular attention to the needs an 1 em-
powerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living
in poverty. A historic and defining feature of social work is the
profession’s focus on individual well-being in a social context
and the well-being of society. Fundamental to social work is
attention to environmental forces that create, contribute to.
and address problems in living."

Rex Skidmore, Milton Thackeray, and William Farley define so-
cial work as “a profession that helps people to solve personal, group
(especially family), and community problems and to attain satisfy-
ing personal, group, and community relationships through . . . case-
work, group work, community organization, and research . 1

'This professional mission statement describes multiple roles for
social workers. They provide services, act as agents of planned change,
and help individuals who find difficulty relating with other people.' n

Current Obstacles to Advancing Indigenous Education

There is a crucial need for empowerment-oriented social work
practice in Indigenous education. The history of Indigenous educa-
tion is replete with oppression, racism, discrimination, cultural geno-
cide, social control, and the imposition of hegemonic European
American education methods. Understanding the history of a group’s
oppression raises consciousness and is important to the knowledge
base of empowerment social work practice.

Unacknowledged histories of oppression. The greatest ob-
stacle to advancing Indigenous education may be the lack of ac-
knowledgment and redress of its oppressive history. The removal of
Indigenous children from their homes by the social work profession
is part of this legacy. This painful legacy has generated extensive
mistrust, alienation, and resistance among Indigenous peoples to-
ward European American models of assimilationist education. David
Gil describes oppression as “relations of domination and exploita-
tion— economic, social, and psychological— between individuals; be-
tween groups and classes, within and beyond societies; and. globally,
between entire societies." He stales that oppression results in injus-

on/.

Tw Roit OF SoClAi WoPk in AOvANi iN« 7 1h[ PliAf.' Ik' | < '( InCU^NC’ , Ei'-UC AION

tice, discrimination, dehumanization, and growth-inhibiting condi-
tions of living. Psychological studies of oppression suggest that re-
peated exposure to oppressive situations leads people to internalize
negative self-images. r

'Fhe most potent and hostile form of oppression brought about by
educators was the U.S. government policy of forcing Indigenous
children to attend religious and government-sponsored hoarding
schools. In boarding schools, Indigenous students were exposed to
oppressive conditions for extended periods of their childhoods. Edu-
cators indoctrinated students to prepare them for subordination to
colonialism and assimilation into majority culture . 18

Boarding schools resembled forced acculturation camps where
tribal languages, cultural beliefs, and cultural practices, regarded as
impediments to European American civilization , were systemati-
cally eradicated in the education process. Students were subjected to
harsh physical punishment when they spoke their languages and
were taught to doubt and devalue the beliefs, identity, and cultures
of their communities and parents. While many Indigenous peoples
today hold a positive view of education, some still pass on the stories
of the oppression and harsh treatment of hoarding schools to their
children. 1 ’*

Colonialism and its legacy. Boarding schools did not develop
in a historical vacuum. They were an extension of the European
American colonialization process that exerted control over the eco-
nomic. political, and social lives of First Nations peoples. Robert
Blauner explains, “Colonialism traditionally refers to the establish-
ment of domination over a geograph ically-external political unit
most often inhabited by people of a different race and culture, where
this domination is political and economic, and the colony exists
subordinated to and dependent upon the mother country."*"

Social work practice literature rarely encourages the use of the
European American colonialism theory to explain the current social,
political, and economic hardships faced by Indigenous peoples. Yet
Indigenous social work scholars insist that understanding colonial-
ism is essential to effective social work practice with First Nations
peoples .* 1 1 Because of this lack in the education of social workers,
they rarely understand how colonialism contributed to the creation
of a host of ills in Indigenous communities: poverty, internalized

on*;

1 t

Mich ac i J Ytiiovv Bn?o & Vcn-da Chcnahu

violence, high mortality, destroyed families, broken-up village . Ja-
tions, and subordinated political structures. Yet the point of colo-
nialism was to weaken the resistance of Indigenous peoples so they
could be controlled."

Colonialism did not exist in isolation. It was the product of rac-
ism. According to Blauner, racism “is a fundamental principle of
social domination by which a group seen as inferior or different in
terms of alleged biological characteristics is exploited, controlled,
and oppressed socially and psychically by a superordinate group.”
The racism of many Europeans and European Americans made it
acceptable to force Indigenous children into boarding schools. 1 1

Linda Miller Clean' and Thomas D. Peacock remind us, “The
process of colonization, the Christianization and the ‘civilization' of
the Indigenous peoples in this country today affect both the colo-
nizer and colonized in more ways than we at first discern. Remnants
of oppression still affect the daily intercourse of the two peoples.”
These negative effects of European American colonialism upon the
well-being of Indigenous peoples are well documented. Today First
Nations experience shorter life expectancy and greater rates of pov-
erty, unemployment, violence, alcoholism, chronic disease, suicide,
and accidents than the general population in the United States.-' 4

The historical time capsule of boarding school oppression is still
manifest in Indigenous education today. For example, Indigenous
children drop out of school at the highest rate of all ethnic groups
and experience an excess of academic failure and low achievement.
W. II. Du Bray states that the “inter-generational effect of the board-
ing school era is still considered one of the major factors in the
breakdown of Indian family traditions and has had a major impact
on parenting practices for generations.” When looking for causes of
the disproportionate number of youth gangs and high rates of vio-
lence, suicide, and substance abuse among Indigenous communi-
ties, social workers and educators should challenge themselves to
determine how colonialism has contributed to these problems/’

Social workers as historical participants in the oppres-
sion of Indigenous peoples. Most social workers do not know
the history of their profession with respect to Indigenous peoples.
Thus, most do not know how social workers oppressed and tore
apart communities by taking Indigenous children and placing them

ono

The Roif of Social Work in Advancing hie Practice o r Indigenous Educahon

in boarding schools. Most do not know that attitudes exhibited by
their professional predecessors created deep mistrust for social work
among Indigenous peoples.

A congressional investigation in the mid-1970s discovered that
“many state social workers and judges were either ignorant of Indian
culture or tradition or were prejudiced in their attitudes; many
children were removed from their homes primarily because the
family was Indian and poor. In one state, for example, the adoption
rate of Indian children was eight times that of non-Indian children.
Entire reservations were being depleted of their you th.” 2 *’

The ignorance and prejudice toward Indigenous cultures by social
workers was present for two reasons. First, social workers, like
educators, were the products of a European American education
system that disrespected or ignored Indigenous cultures while pro-
moting its own history, heroes, language, and culture. Second, the
education system did not (and still does not) equip students to
understand how European American colonization oppressed the
social, political, and economic lives of Indigenous peoples.

Education rarely incorporates the voices (narrations) of Indig-
enous peoples who have been traumatized by European American
racism and colonialism. According to Paulo Freire, a radical Brazil-
ian scholar who promoted “critical consciousness” among oppressed
peoples, education uses a “banking approach” when teaching history
and most other subjects. In this approach, students are passive
receptacles (listening objects), and the teacher or school (narrating
subject) deposits selective knowledge that is often detached from the
reality of the students. This domination of student thinking subverts
students* abilities to challenge or question what they are told and
keeps them submerged in a situation where their awareness of and
responses to Indigenous peoples’ oppression are practically impos-
sible. Consequently, education suffers from narration sickness when
it comes to Indigenous peoples.

To counter this reality, social workers and educators must seek

out narratives of Indigenous peoples. The narrative is an important
way to share the depth of personal and group experiences and to
understand the context of behavior, feelings, and thoughts. Narra-
tives bring meaning to the engagement between storyteller and lis-

tener. They empower individuals to voice their perspective and reaf-

209

Mil mm i J. Yiiiotv B'm> & Vi N't Chinauh

firm strengths and resiliency while helping raise the consciousness
of the listener. For an example of a personal narrative, see the box
below.

Social workers were not alone in their ‘’work" of removing Indig-
enous children from homes; government agents, teachers, and Chris-
tian missionaries also participated. Together, they took thousands ot
children and placed them in off- reservation boarding schools and
non-Indigenous foster homes, where there was little or no concern

for children's cultural needs.

Without question, the most prolific baby snatcher was Henry
Richard Pratt, a European American, Baptist, U.S. Army cavalry
officer in the late 1800s. Colonel Pratt believed Indigenous peoples

needed to be cirilizcchu\<\ made into Christians. He believed civiliza-
tion could best be achieved through a White man's education. This
belief led him to open one of the first ofl -reservation boarding schools

A Personal Narrative

by Micuaki.Yku.ow Bird

My first experience with social workers happened when I was about
eight or nine years old. In my community, we all knew the green car with
the black lettering on the doors belonged to the Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA). We knew that the tall, bald-headed White man who drove the car
and smiled and waved at us was the BIA social worker. We knew he look
children from our community and sent them away to boarding schools or
to White families, especially those children whose parents were poor or

drank a lot.

It was a hot summer afternoon when the green ear drove up to my
house. As usual, our house was bustling with many relatives laughing,
eating, and carrying on multiple conversations in English and Sahnish. 1
watched the bald White man get out of his ear, walk up to our house,
knock on the door, and enter without being asked to do so. Once inside,
he glanced around at all the activity, smiled, and finally made eye contact

with my mom.

’•Well, Mrs. Yellow Bird," he said. "I’ve come for the children. Are they
ready?" With that remark, all conversations immediately ceased, and
everyone looked at him. "Yes," said my mother as she got up from the
kitchen table, where she had been visiting with several of my aunts.

She slowly walked toward mv cousin standing next to me, gently put

* \ *

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Tml Roi? c« r S- >* <'M \A/v )f « , *‘ '* AovANi.* ing ief P.<A.ci'» ( • "*» I o» »i*s Epsi' Ai<oh

for Indigenous children in the United States at Carlisle, Pennsylva-
nia, in 1879.

In his book Education for Extinction: American Indians and the
Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928, David Adams writes, “Pratt
liked Indians, but he had little use for Indian cultures." One of his
beliefs was to “kill the Indian in him and save the man. . . Pratt's
fantasy was to place the entire population of Indian children across
the nation, with some 70,000 White families each taking in one
Indian child." Pratt believed Indigenous cultures* were so inferior
that Indigenous children would immediately abandon their own
homes and cultures once they tasted and understood the superior
ways of European American families. For almost 100 years, from
Pratt's 1879 opening of the Carlisle boarding school until the passage
ol the Indian Child Welfare Act (1978), which ended the removal of
Indigenous children without consent of the tribal community, the

her arm around his shoulders, and guided him toward my other cousins,
who had gathered in a small tight circle in the middle of the room. She
looked at them with intense pain in her face while at the same time trying
to smile at them.

"It's time to go with Mr. Herman," she said. “He’s going to take you
away to a real nice school." Then all hell broke loose. My cousins started
crying and hid behind my mother, who also hurst into tears. My sisters,
aunts, and girl cousins all started crying too. But us hoys just stood still,
frozen with confusion, paralyzed by what was happening.

As my cousins were led outside by the social worker and my mom. I
unfroze enough to move to the window to watch them loaded into the
green car. They continued crying and hanging onto my mother's dress. I
don't remember my mother coming hack into the house, but as 1 turned
away from the window after the green car went out of sight, I saw her
sitting at the table with her face buried in the palms of her hands, crying
and saying, “I wanted to keep them.” All around her stood my aunts,
sisters, and girl cousins sobbing. But us boys, we just stood still, unable to
cry, glancing at one another and the floor.

Unfortunately, the events described in this narrative occurred not
only at my house but over and over again in Indigenous homes and
communities all across the United States and Canada. So widespread was
the practice of removing First Nations children from their homes that
Indigenous peoples across North America came to regard social work as
“baby snatching" and “legalized abduction. "'

Michali J. YluOw Bm> & Vfnida Chenauii

legal abduction and ethnic cleansing of Native children remained an
official social policy in the United States. 2 ”

Early social work practice, like education, was guided by deficit
thinking. Governments and religious organizations, which, like Pratt,
considered the cultures and religious traditions of Indigenous peoples
inferior and in need of eradication, promoted a model of European
American Christian belief and virtue. Social workers, who removed
Indigenous children from their homes and imposed Christianity and
European American education upon them, contributed to the dis-
ruption of Aboriginal cultures for many generations.

In Canada, where the treatment of Indigenous peoples and their
children was almost identical to that in the United States, social
workers continued to remove Indigenous children from their homes
well into the 1990s. The mass removal of Indigenous children was so
devastating that, when First Nations peoples in British Columbia
were given the opportunity to review and comment on provincial
child protection legislation, they called on the Minister of Social
Services of the province to end the “legalized abduction of aboriginal

children. " 2,,

Recently the Canadian government formally apologized to “its 1.3
million Indigenous peoples for 150 years of paternalistic assistance
programs and racist residential schools that devastated Indian com-
munities as thoroughly as any war or disease.” The government
admitted its role in taking thousands of youths from their families
and forcing them to attend schools where they were sometimes
sexually abused and often punished for speaking their languages and
practicing their customs. The New York Times reported, “Residen-
tial schools were also operated in the United States, and similar
abuses took place. The closest the United States Government came

to apologizing was a 1969 Senate investigation, initiated by Robert V.
Kennedy, that documented abuses.” 11 ’

To practice empowerment-oriented social work, social workers
and educators must acknowledge the painful legacy of hoarding
schools and the mass removal of Indigenous children from their
homes. They must promote honest and meaningful dialogues with
community members directly or indirectly affected. Social workers
and educators who engage in such dialogue will experience personal
empowerment as they become more attuned to the effects ot board-

O 1 o

The Role of Sociai Wopk in Advancing ihf Practice of Indigenous Education

ing schools on the communities where they are practicing. Commu-
nity members will experience a sense of personal satisfaction when
their stories are honored and their resiliency is acknowledged.

On an organizational level, schools and social service agencies
that recognize these painful legacies can develop strategies to avoid
similar oppressive practices and policies toward Indigenous stu-
dents and their families. They should create culturally appropriate
conditions that promote the personal and political empowerment of
Indigenous communities.

However, the point of dialogue is not to saddle current social
workers and educators with the sins of their profession. Rather, the
aim is to respect and validate the narratives, survival, and experi-
ences of Indigenous peoples. Ignoring the oppressive history of
social work and education promotes narration sickness and perpetu-
ates mistrust of social work and education by Indigenous children,
parents, and communities.

Professional Behavior

The NASVV Code of Ethics provides direction for social workers
but does not explicitly define professional behavior; instead, it “of-
fers a set of values, principles, and standards to guide decision-
making and conduct when ethical issues arise.’*" The code identifies
six core values embraced by the social work profession: service*
social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of hu-
man relationships, integrity, and competence . These values are
important to the promotion of individual and political empower-
ment.

Service. The sere ice value suggests “social workers elevate ser-
vice to others above self interest [and] . . . draw upon their knowl-
edge, values, and skills to help people in need . . . and volunteer some
portion of their professional skills with no expectation of significant
financial return (pro bono service)."'"

This value urges social workers to put the needs of Indigenous
students and families before their own. For example, if a child's
cultural or emotional needs are not being met by a teacher or school,
a social worker can (and should) advocate for the child's needs even
though it may negatively affect the worker's relationship with the

213

4 * t

M: '-Ml J Vt

school or teacher or jeopardize his or her own employment. I he
service value suggests meeting a client s need for services is an
important goal that must he achieved, especially when the client
holds little power and is vulnerable to racist and oppressive treat-
ment.

To this end, social workers can use empowerment-oriented social
work practice to assist students and parents in identifying and tran-
scending direct { institutional) and personal) “power blocks

that denv opportunities important to a child s education. Social
workers can work closely with educators to find ways to serve that
enable Indigenous families, communities, and individuals to under-
stand and address the challenges affecting their lives. l>

Social justice. To achieve social justice, "social workers pursue
social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and
oppressed individuals and groups of people. 1 his statement sug-
gests "change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty,
unemplovment. discrimination, and other forms of social injustice
and "these activities seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge
about oppression and cultural and ethnic diversity.” “

To challenge education practices or community environments
that oppress Indigenous children, social workers can examine how
different forms of social injustice (e.g.. inferior education methods
and conditions, poverty, poor health, individual and structural rac-
ism) affect student education. Social workers and educators can
collaborate with children, parents, and the community to strategi/c
how to resolve such conditions. On a political level in schools, social
workers and educators can promote participation of Indigenous
children and parents in polic\ making, curriculum development,
and program and teacher evaluation.

Dignity and worth of the person. Social workers and educa-
tors must "treat each person in a earing and respectful fashion,
mindful of indi'idual differences and cultural and ethnic diversity"
and "seek to resolve conflicts between clients* interests and the
broader society’s interests in a socially responsible manner consis-
tent with the values, ethical principles, and ethical standards ol the
profession.** '

Social workers can collaborate with teachers and school adminis-
trators to promote respectful treatment of Indigenous children and

i ' * 1 <1

Th< R'.»a «■? S<x «*'i Work in- Aovaja ino ihi pr..v i!< » ■ j s E1'u«..aiic»4

their parents. Such collaboration can lead to better understanding
and support for tribal and individual self-determination, identity
formation, and increased responsibility as defined by tribal beliefs,
values, and customs. By promoting such cultural understanding,
social workers can help teachers and schools create a caring, safe,
and respectful environment. Social workers can also mediate con-
flicts between teachers and students or teachers and parents, main-
taining support for all parties.

Importance of human relationships. Social workers must
understand that relationships among people are central in the help-
ing process. The NASW code encourages social workers to "seek to
strengthen relationships among people in a purposeful effort to
promote, restore, maintain, and enhance the well-being of individu-
als, families, social groups, organizations, and communities." “*

Social workers and educators must recognize Indigenous family,
clan, and community strengths, avoiding the tendency to see mem-
bers of these groups as victims. Community empowerment can he
promoted when social workers and educators look for the skills,
knowledge, qualities, and customs people have to heal themselves.
In many instances, the most effective healing takes place in the tribal
community and not in the school office. 1 "

Integrity. Social workers must “behave in a trustworthy man-
ner" and "act honestly and responsibly and promote ethical practices
on the part of the organizations with which they are affiliated."*’'
Social workers can arrange home visits to discuss concerns par-
ents have regarding their children's education. This includes con-
cerns about their individual children and about the school or school
district itself. When attending community meetings, social workers
can explain their role and inquire how they can support the Indig-
enous community, 'faking the time to learn about historical oppres-
sion is important in empowerment, and a knowledgeable social
worker can enlighten teachers, administrators, and school hoards
about contemporary effects of this history. Indigenous communities,
too, often need help in critically understanding this painful legacy.
Social workers who gain trust by collaborating with community
members can help people find ways to hasten the healing process. “

Competence. The ( 'ode of Id hies states. ‘‘Social workers con-
tinually strive to increase their professional knowledge and skills

Mich.au J Yi now Bu<d & Vi nida Cue naui i

and apply them in practice. Social workers should aspire to contrib-
ute to the knowledge base of the profession .’' 40

Social workers and educators can improve their effectiveness in
working with Indigenous peoples by reading the right literature,
newspapers, and research; spending time with Indigenous people
from various walks of life including grassroots populations, profes-
sionals, scholars, and tribal officials or staff; and using a practical
approach that is informed by cultural and tribal sensibilities and that
seeks always to empower people.

Professional Education

Social workers receive undergraduate training toward a bachelor
of social work (BSVV) degree at an accredited program. Many also
work toward a master of social work (MSVV) graduate degree or
doctorate in social work or social welfare. In most instances, stu-
dents are accepted into professional social work programs only after
successful completion of a two-year liberal arts university program.
Most social workers practicing in schools have BSVV or MSVV de-

grees.

The Council on Social Work Education (CSVVH) provides national
accreditation for professional schools of social work and social wel-
fare. This organization’s curriculum policy requires “a ‘professional
foundation' of content and learning experiences which constitutes
the essential knowledge, values, and skills that all social workers
should possess . 1 * 41 The curriculum addresses five areas: human be-
havior in the social environment (HBSE), social work practice, re-
search, social welfare policy, and field practicum.

HBSE. In HBSE courses, students gain knowledge of individual,
group, community, institutional, and cultural dynamics and behav-
ior. These courses introduce students to theories of human behavior
that include culturally diverse perspectives. For example, students
may learn about the theory of talking circles . a group process often
used in Indigenous communities for problem solving and sharing.
They may also be exposed to the theory of the medicine wheel,
another Indigenous method of explaining human behavior. *•'

Social work practice. Karen Haynes and Karen Holmes ob-
serve. “Social work practice courses focus on skill development.

216

The Role of Social Work in Advancing wi Practice ci Indigenous Educaiiqn

ranging from essential interpersonal skills to specific practice prin-
ciples of selected models of intervention .” 43 These courses provide
students with skills to intervene with individuals, groups, families,
organizations, and communities. Social work practice courses also
provide students with knowledge and skills that can be generalized
to diverse client populations, for example, in courses on human
diversity, students learn a general set of Indigenous values and
helping practices taken from Indigenous social work scholarship.
Students can use this knowledge when applying intervention skills
with Indigenous peoples.

Research. Research courses require students to understand and
apply basic research methods to relevant social work problems.
Students, especially those in graduate programs, learn to conduct
culturally sensitive research on behalf of Indigenous communities.
They may collaborate with educators and Indigenous communities
to design research that will help promote social and cultural justice
in education settings. For example, content analysis can be per-
formed on classroom textbooks and curricular materials to expose
insensitive depictions of Indigenous peoples.

Social policy. Social policy courses enable students to analyze
social problems, policies, and programs. This course also enables
students to understand the effects of various social programs and
policies on their professional practice. With these skills, social work-
ers evaluate social problems, programs, and policies that oppress
Indigenous communities.

Field practicum. Field practicum enables social work students
to learn under a supervisor or field instructor in direct professional
practice. Students working in Indigenous community and agency
settings have an opportunity to experience the unique social needs of
Indigenous peoples, become involved in cultural sharing, and learn
to respect and use Indigenous models of helping. Students can bring
this knowledge into education settings . 1 1

At some point in undergraduate and graduate social work train-
ing, students study human diversity. In social work, this term en-

compasses “groups distinguished by race, ethnicity, culture, class,
gender, sexual orientation, religion, physical or mental ability, age,
and national origin."**’ Students learn that practitioners who serve
diverse populations must use different forms of assessment and

017 f * » '

Mk'h/'Ei J. Yf i-'vs B^r & VrN.pA

intervention .skills depending on which group they are serving.

These skills are also useful in education. Social workers can sensi-
tize teachers and administrators to the need to use culturally appro-
priate approaches with Indigenous children and their families.

Generalist Practice

All social work practice has an u ndcrlyi ng (/cnera/ist orientation.
This framework is important because social workers can apply gen-
eralist skills, knowledge, and values to their practice among Indig-
enous peoples. Many MSW programs also require students to choose
a special area of study such as family therapy, administration, cor-
rections, or clinical > >cial work.' 1 "

So what does generalist practice induce? The 1992 Curriculum
Policy Statement of the Council on Social Work Education recom-
mends a generalist practice that

• emphasizes professional relationships characterized by mutu-
ality, collaboration, and respect for the client system;

• focuses practice assessments on the examination of client
strengths and problems in the interactions among individuals
and between people and their environments;

• includes knowledge, values, and skills to enhance the well-
being of people and to help ameliorate the environmental con-
ditions that affect people adversely;

• includes the following skills— defining issues, collecting and
assessing data, planning and contracting, identifying alterna-
tive interventions, selecting and implementing appropriate
courses of action, using appropriate research-based knowledge
and technological advances, and termination:

includes approaches and skills for practice with clients from
different social, cultural, racial, religious, spiritual, and class
backgrounds with systems of all sizes. 1 '

Roles of Social Workers

Social workers should continually focus on empowerment-oriented
practice when working with Indigenous peoples. One research group

* * < . t

Olft

The. Role of Sgciai Work in Advancing the Ppacuce or Indigenous Educahon

characterizes social workers as striving to help people create order in
a complex world. They do this by helping clients function better and
promoting social justice. These tasks require a realistic understand-
ing of how conditions are currently and a positive view of how things
could be. - **

Social workers provide a variety of human services: mental health,
corrections, medical care, child protection, housing, and vocational
rehabilitation. Practice options include microinterventions that fo-
cus on individuals, families, and groups, and macrointerventions,
where action is aimed at oppressive institutions, laws, or ideas.
Social work clients are both voluntary and involuntary (e.g., clients
ordered by courts of law to receive serv ices).

Bradford Shcafor, Charles Horejsi, and Gloria Horejsi describe
several professional roles social workers can assume. The following
descriptions of roles have been adapted from these authors to show
examples of how social workers can advance Indigenous educa-
tion. 4V

The social worker as a human services broker or case
manager. Social workers collaborate with educators to link Indig-
enous students and their families to needed human services and
other resources, and they coordinate and monitor the use of those
services. Social workers often begin by interviewing students, fami-
lies, and teachers to assess the urgency of the situation and to
determine who within the family to involve in the client s treatment.
Next the social worker meets with all parties to determine what
resources are appropriate, available, and necessary. Finally social
workers and teachers offer support and advocacy while students and
their families arc engaged with service providers and resources.

The social worker as a teacher. Clients learn what they need
to know and gain skills to prevent problems or enhance social func-
tioning. Social workers help parents and educators teach social and
daily living skills and facilitate behavior changes consistent with the
cultural norms of Indigenous communities.

Km powermen t -oriented social work practice compels practitio-
ners to make sure that what they teach helps increase the personal,
interpersonal, and political power of Indigenous peoples so they can
take action to improve their situations. "

Mu-HAfi J. Yeuow Bipd & Vfn.pa Cknauh

The social worker as a eounselor/clinician. Social workers
collaborate with schools to help students improve their social func-
tioning by helping them better understand their attitudes and feel-
ings, modify behaviors, and learn to cope with difficult situations.

The. functions of this role include psychosocial assessment and
diagnosis, ongoing stabilizing care, social treatment, and practice
research. There are two important caveats of this role. The first is
that the ’‘deficits” or problem behaviors of the student often become
the center of attention and focus of change. The second is that
assessment and diagnosis flow from this deficit thinking. For ex-
ample, clinical assessments often do not assess cultural and family
strengths nor do they focus on deficiencies in the social environment
when developing treatment plans.

Social workers and educators must collaborate to avoid these
tendencies by making sure that assessments of student, family, and
community strengths are included in any treatment plan. Social
workers can also critically examine the strengths and deficits of the
school to resolve the problems of this environment. Educators may
need to be reminded that using diagnostic labels disempowers and
shames students and produces a self-fulfilling prophecy. Thus, stu-
dents become the label or pathology rather than persons and are
regarded as having no personal resources to help address their
situations.

The social worker as a staff developer. Social workers help
facilitate the professional development of school staff through train-
ing and consultation. For example, they raise awareness of teachers,
administrators, and school hoards about the mission of social work
and the multiple roles of social workers. ’* Social workers can be
especially helpful by explaining how an important part of their role is
helping Indigenous students to empower themselves using personal
and political strategies. Social workers also provide professional
consultation in such areas as child protection, social services deliv-
ery coordination, community development, and mental health.

The social worker as a social change agent. Social workers
must take an activist position and collaborate with Indigenous stu-
dents, parents, educators, and communities to identify community
concents and areas where the quality of life can be enhanced. Phis
may involve mobilizing interest groups to examine oppressive social

220

T>h Rou of Social Work :n Advancing in£ Prachu. of Indigenous EfM*Ai.<>;j

problems and policies in the school and community and advocating
tor change. Advocacy can include collecting data and presenting
evidence of problems, using mediation skills between opposing par-
ties, or helping others organize protests or boycotts against oppres-
sive actions or parties. In this role, social workers help school per-
sonnel to be “sensitive to cultural and ethnic diversitv and strive to
end discrimination, oppression, poverty, and other forms of social
injustice .’* 52

It is clear that social workers have multiple skills, sources of
knowledge, and commitments at play in their work. Their efforts are
guided by an excellent and empowering professional code of ethics.
However, the social welfare and education system often does not
allow social workers immediately to overturn and transform oppres-
sive conditions of society or change oppressive agency policies and
practices. This is especially true when the changes sought are on
behalf of populations with limited political power and visibility and
numerous social and economic problems. However, educators who
are committed to advancing Indigenous education can ally them-
selves with social workers to form strong, proactive, and justice-
oriented coalitions to address oppressive forces.

Micro and Macro (Structural) Issues Affecting the
Advancement of Indigenous Education

I here are at least six obstacles to advancing Indigenous student
success, but social workers and educators can use empowerment-
oriented practices to address both micro and macro concerns. Micro
concerns are education issues directly affecting individual Indig-
enous students and families. Macro concerns involve school systems
and Indigenous communities. Micro and macro concerns are not
mutually exclusive. For example, a micro concern can he getting
parents and teachers to work together for the benefit of particular
students, while a macro (structural) concern might he raising the
consciousness of all teachers about the oppressive legacy of educa-
tion and its aftermath in Indigenous communities. The two become
intertwined when parents and teachers get together to share narra-
tives about tlie history of boarding schools.

Micro issues. One of the most important micro issues is a
posit ire working relationship between teachers ami Indigenous

O V"

/s, l)/v

991

Mk mau J. Yt n< av B;wi > & VimiA Chojak.*

parents. Parents and the extended family strongly influence the
educational success of children and should be active partners in
their education. However, Indigenous parents often have been ex-
cluded from participation. Historically* parents have been regarded
as barriers to their children’s educational success because they rein-
force “Indian ness." Dick Littlcbear suggests that one way teachers
can make education more friendly to Indigenous parents is to have
them come to school to share their experiences with students.™

Social workers and educators can improve relations between teach-
ers and Indigenous parents by using an empowerment-oriented
strengths perspective. Educators should call upon the skills, talents,
and knowledge of Indigenous parents, grandparents, and other ex-
tended family members. For example, schools can use individuals
who have good mediation skills to resolve conflicts between teachers
and parents and teachers and students. Individuals with a lot of
patience can mentor children who are having a ditficult time in
school and serve as a lifeline in the community. Individuals who
have talents such as cooking exotic foods, knowledge of organic
gardening, or math skills can become helpful partners to educators
by sharing what they know with students and other parents. Teach-
ers, social workers, and parents are all empowered through these
interactions. Teachers and social workers develop a greater under-
standing of and appreciation for the skills, talents, and knowledge of
parents; parents, in turn, experience a personal sense of competence
when they find that their knowledge is valued.

Another important micro concern is drop-out rates. Indigenous
students have the highest drop-out rates of all ethnic groups. How-
ever, the cause has been studied largely from an individual deficit
perspective. Studies focus on student characteristics related to drop-
ping out; however, they very seldom investigate the attributes of
schools that produce dropouts. Donna Deyhle and Karen Swisher
observe, “Youth who leave school are described as deviant, dysfunc-
tional, or deficient because of individual, family, or community char-
acteristics.

It is important that social workers and educators hear the voices
of Indigenous students who have dropped out of school. Social work-
ers have a variety of methods at their disposal for collecting informa-
tion and soliciting personal narratives. For example, they can use

O U ^

ooo

T* if R. if <.r Sck i/*5 Woi« in Ah. -vk *

Imv. ,i n " »s E

data collection skills to interview students and their parents after
students drop out. Social workers can collaborate with teachers,
parents, and students to examine the school characteristics that
contribute to youths' decisions to drop out. Social workers can hold
focus groups, bringing together concerned parties and identifying
key personal and institutional factors that prevent or promote drop-
ping out of school.

The crossover effect is a well-known phenomenon among Indig-
enous education scholars. Deyhle and Swisher explain, “This phe-
nomenon suggests that, at some point in school Indian students,
who had been achieving at or above the level of their White peers,
“cross over’ and begin doing poorly." However, these researchers
point out that more recent research suggests the crossover effect
does not exist in schools with a more supportive context for Indig-
enous cultures, identity, and languages, which suggests this phe-
nomenon “is not simply a problem of adolescent development." *■

Social workers and educators can collaborate with parents and
the community to raise consciousness about the crossover effect.
They can design supportive environments in the school and commu-
nity that honor Indigenous cultures, identity, and languages. Social
workers can help students understand the strengths of Indigenous
cultures and can learn to use a helping lexicon in the languages of
students.

Structural concerns. Indigenous-developed curricula is needed
in schools. Cultural materials with positive portrayals of Indigenous
peoples help Indigenous children develop healthy cultural identities
and have a positive influence on their education. An assimilationist
approach in education “often results in school failure while an inter-
cultural, antiracist orientation allows students to develop the confi-
dence and motivation that lead to academic success." v ’

One explanation for the long-standing lack of culturally appro-
priate curricular the lack of political power of Indigenous peoples.
School policies, teachers, or administrators can represent direct
power blocks for Indigenous students, parents, and communities
who desire inclusion of their cultures in schools. In such situations,
empowerment-oriented social workers can collaborate with teachers
and parents to find suitable textbooks, readings, and lessons for
different grade levels. Social workers can use their advocacy training

2\U

001

Mu hah J. Yhm *\V BiK' & VtNiL’A ChH-jz-jH

to organize parents and teachers to present lawmakers with evidence
of the need for more culturally appropriate curricula. ^

The general lack of knowledge among educators and curriculum
developers about tribal diversity represents another structural con-
cern. Indigenous peoples share a common history of colonialism and
educational oppression, resulting in poor economic and social out-
comes; however, there is no generic Indigenous culture or language.
Important differences exist among the hundreds of tribal nations—
and even within particular nations— with respect to levels of adapta-
tion to majority culture. Also, particular Indigenous students can
have very different school experiences.'* 8

Social workers can help schools regard this diversity as an honor-
able, beautiful, and important part of any child's identity. Social
workers can share respect for diversity gained through their train-
ing, experience, and professional code of ethics. Social workers can
promote appreciation for diversity by helping teachers understand
that Indigenous peoples compose a unique minority group that in-
cludes more than 500 different tribes, the majority of which are
sovereign nations. Each tribe has a unique history, language, land,
dress, and food. Social workers can also help educators understand
diversity by bringing Indigenous peoples from different nations into
the school to share their experiences.

Deyhle and Swisher indicate that little research has been con-
ducted on the effects of racism, prejudice, and discrimination on
students, even though these conditions clearly exist and may con-
tribute to students’ lack of success in school. Agnes Grant and LaVina
Gillespie maintain that systemic prejudice and racism must be ac-
knowledged within the education system and that "teachers with the
support of administrators and tribal groups must actively work to
combat racism.” Andv Bowker has found that individual and struc-
tural racism is a major reason young Indigenous women leave
school. Vl

Social workers can do much to address individual and structural
racism, discrimination, and prejudice. President Clinton’s dialogue
on race in the United States has proven irrelevant for Indigenous
peoples. As of 1998 not one First Nations person serves on the
president’s panel, reflecting the contemporary lack of political power
and the invisibility of hirst Nations peoples in their own homelands.

( ■*

00A

Th" ?t' ll or S AI Wow IN Am- AN. 't:G Inf PvA<..t,;. ( , f h,C iC;^ El.-,* .V^t;

Racism is, very often, a much avoided subject. Many people be-
lieve that racism no longer exists and that ail people in the United
States are treated equally. To test this notion, social workers and
teachers can initiate dialogues in schools and communities about
race and invite parents and students to share their experiences.
Social workers can collect and publish these stories, making them
available to all school personnel. Such stories can raise the con-
sciousness of many people.

Social workers can also collaborate with educators, racism spe-
cialists, parents, and children to identify different dimensions present
in a school and community. For example, presenting Indigenous
peoples as mascots for sports teams or emblems for selling products
is visual racism. Words such as sqaaic , used to identify an Indig-
enous woman, or savage, used historically to explain the habits or
personalities of Indigenous people, are examples of verbal racism.
To help develop dialogues, social workers can enlist Indigenous
grassroots activists who have a wealth of experience with racism.

Summary

Social work can be a powerful force in advancing the practice of
Indigenous education. Social workers and educators can use numer-
ous empowerment-oriented practice strategies to enable Indigenous
students, families, and communities to gain a strong voice, under-
standing, and influence over the education decisions and practices
that affect their lives. Empowerment-oriented practices also offer
important ways to increase the personal and political power of stu-
dents, parents, teachers, school administrators, and communities.
Social workers can also suggest strategies to overcome oppression,
achieve social justice, and build on Indigenous peoples' strengths,
resiliency, and resources.

The mission of social work is to help people meet their basic needs
and enhance their well-being. Through a strong empowerment ori-
entation, the profession pays particular attention to people vulner-
able to oppression, especially as a result of racism, discrimination,
prejudice, and poverty.

An important way for social workers and educators to begin ad-
vancing Indigenous education is by using empowerment-oriented
practices to build strong collaborative relationships with parents.

N/k HAU J. YlU' V. B?'l' & VilO A 0<0;-Vi.1

teachers, students, and school administrators. A primary agenda of
collaboration must include movement away from models that seek
to identify and treat individual deficits. These models are premised
on the belief that the student, family, and culture are the causes of
Indigenous students’ low academic achievement, high drop-out rates,
and nonconforming behavior. Social workers can help teachers and
school administrators develop strategies for overcoming the oppres-
sive aspects of school and community life that play such a large part
in creating disappointing outcomes for Indigenous children.

Several obstacles remain in front of Indigenous education. Per-
haps the most important is the painful legacy ot boarding schools
and the mass removal of Indigenous children from their homes.
Social workers and teachers can practice empowerment-oriented
social work by promoting honest and meaningful dialogues with the
Indigenous peoples directly and indirectly affected by these painful
legacies. To advance Indigenous education,, social workers and edu-
cators must seek out narratives of Indigenous peoples to understand
how these legacies continue to affect people today.

The professional education of social workers is important to ad-
vancing Indigenous education because it enables social workers to
understand human behavior, and, it promotes skills, knowledge,
and approaches that can work well with Indigenous peoples. Social
workers can also use their understanding of social policy to analyze
social problems and programs relevant to First Nations communi-
ties. The field praetieum aspect of social work education enables
social workers to experience direct practice situations. Students of
social work who practice in Indigenous communities and agencies
can help bring important cultural knowledge and understanding to
schools.

Finally several micro and macro issues present obstacles to ad-
vancing Indigenous education. Social workers and teachers can use
empowerment-oriented social work practices to address these con-
cerns. The extent to which social workers can help advance Indig-
enous education remains to he seen. However, educators and social
workers with progressive, courageous, and collaborative attitudes
will make powerful contributions.

2Wt

Tuf ROi? r 'f SOOA; Wr-.>. "N

r. :»«f Pp-^ jrr m Inti E

Notes

1. Michael .1. Yellow Bird (Sahnish/IIidatsa) is an assistant professor in
the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas. Venida Chenault
(Prairie Band Potawatomi) is a faculty member at Haskell Indian Nations
University. The authors wish to thank Priscilla Rid}; way; Hilary Weaver;
Francis Waukazoo; Wally Kisthardt; Dennis Saleebey; Fd Canda: Cornel
Pewewardy; Pern, Mike.Ir., Jason, Pete, and Matt Yellow Bird; Karen Swisher;
and anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions and comments.

2. Garcia and Abler, “Indian Education," 13. This chapter uses the terms
Indigcnousiu\i\ First Motions peoples to refer to the Aboriginal nations of the
continental United States. The authors remind readers that Native 1 lawaiianx
and residents of U.S. territories are also Indigenous peoples; however, this
chapter focuses primarily on Indigenous peoples of the 4B contiguous states.
The terms are capitalized to signify their heterogeneity. The terms Indian,
American Indian , and Native American nxe avoided because they are inaccu-
rate and confusing colonized identities. For example. Indigenous people in the
United Stales are not from India; therefore, they are not Indians. Rather, they
are the descendants of the First Nations of these lands. Indigenous people are
native Americans, but, so is anyone else who is burn in the Americas. The
authors believe this term should not be used for or by Indigenous peoples
because use of the term notice Americans cannot be restricted to mean
descendants of the original peoples of the Americas. For more information on
this subject, see Garcia and Abler, “Indian Education": Russell, After the Fifth
Sun; and Yellow Bird. “Spirituality."

The term Indigenous peoples is a more appropriate term. Webster's F'cie
Collegiate Dictionary defines indigenous as “having originated in . . . or
occurring naturally in a particular region or environment"; whereas Indian is
defined as “a native or inhabitant of the subcontinent of India or of the East
Indies." Indigenous peoples is an internationally accepted descriptor for
descendants of the original inhabitants of the lands wherein they reside and
have suffered from a history of colonization. For more information on this
distinction, see Stamalopoulou, “Indigenous Peoples."

The term First A Unions is also a more appropriate phrase because it
conveys a clear political statement that such persons are the original inhabit-
ants of the land, retaining Aboriginal title and self-government. Michael Ascii
notes, "The United Nations lias stated that this ‘right to. self-determination’ is
held by colonized peoples everywhere in the world, and that no successor
colonial regime can extinguish that right by unilateral claims to sovereignty
over the same territory" (“Political Self-Sufficiency." 47). The term First
iXutiiws comes from tribal elders in British Columbia who believe a creator
placed their nations on these lands to care for and control the lands. See
reference to Assembly of First Nations in Yates and Yates. Canadas Legal
Fncirontnent .

2;->o

M.-. ii/ai J. Yiikv.v B;w» & ViN'i.-A CnitjAuii

3. Decide and Swisher. "Research." 1 18.

4. See Robbins and others. “Theories of Kmpowerment."

5. See Germain and Gitlerman. "Ideological Perspective."

6. Saleebey. Strengths Perspective* 8. For more information on empow-
erment, seel.ee, Em pan 'crment Approm ii and Robbins and others. "Theories
of Kmpowerment."

7. Robbins and others, “Theories of Kmpowerment/’ 89-

8. See Milov, O’Melia, and Dubois, Generalist Social Work Practice; Ia’c,
Empowerment Approach; Pinderhughos, "Kmpowerment for Our Clients";
Rose and Black, Adcacacg: Solomon. Black Empowerment; Staples, "Power-
ful Ideas”; and Zimmerman and Rappaport, "Citizen Participation.”

9. ( Jutierrez, " Beyond Copi ng,” 202. See also Gutierrez, " Kmpowerment."
Critical consciousness is "learning to perceive social, political and economic
contradictions, and to take action against the oppressive elements of reality,"
as defined in ITeire, Pedagogy, 17.

10. Milov, (VMelia, and DuBois, ( len era list Social Work Practice, 84.

11. bee. Empowerment Approach, 27-28.

12. See Saleehey, Strengths Perspeet ice.

13. National Association of Social Workers, Code of Ethics, 1 (hereafter
cited as NASW, Code).

14- Skidmore, Thackeray, and Parley, Introduction. 8.

15. Johnson, Social Work Practice (1995). 13. See also Pincus and
Mina ban. Social Work Practice.

16. See I.ee. Empowerment Approach.

17. Gil, "Confronting Social Injustice.” 233. See also Kreire. Pedagogy;
i.ee. Empowerment Approach; Shulman. Skills of Helping; and Solomon,
Black Empou mm mt.

18. See Attneave, “Wasted Strengths"; Decide and Swisher. "Research”;
Bearcrane and others, "Kducational Characteristics"; Du Bray, “Role of Social
Work”; Dykeman, Nelson, and Appleton. "Building"; Grant and Gillespie,
Joining the Circle; Kittlebear. “Getting Teachers": Cleary and Peacock, Col-
lected Wisdom; Meriam, “Kffects of Boarding Schools"; Thompson, Walker,
and Silk-Walker, "Psychiatric Care”; Noriega, "American Indian Idducation”;
and Reyhnerand Kder, "I listoryof Indian lddtication.”

19. See Yellow Bird, "Spirituality"; Adams, Education for Extinction;
Decide and Swisher. "Research"; Bearcrane and others, "Kducational Charac-
teristics"; and Dykeman, Nelson, and Appleton, "Building."

20. Biminer, "Internal Colonialism,” 395.

21. See Morrisette, McKenzie, and Morrisette, “Towards an Aboriginal"
and Yellow Bird, "Deconstructing Colonialism.”

22. See Krideres, Satire Peoples.

23. Planner. "Internal Colonialism." 306.

24. Clean - and Peacock. Collected Wisdom. i\[). For more information on

Tk Roil Of Social Wo:.< n Am-vjrit/.. u«f Pu.v. ir. i pi lrax-iuous Bulk atom

the negative effects of colonialism, see Anders, ‘Internal Colonization”; Bee
and (lingerie'll, “Colonialism"; Churchill, "Open Views"; Fleras and Klliot,
Xations Within ; Frideres, Xative Peoples: Hagen, On the Theory; Jacobson,
“Internal Colonialism”; Nafziger. "Transnational Corporations”; Snipp,
"Changing"; and Wilkins, “Modernization.”

25. Du Bray, “Role of Social Work,” 40. For more information on Indig-
enous drop-out rates and low school achievement, see National Center for
education Statistics, Dropout Rates and Swisher and Deyhle. "Research."

26. Pevar. Rights of Indians. 296.

27. Aboriginal Committee, Liberating Our Children, 65. See also Ratner,
“Child Welfare” and Smith, “Young Once.”

28. Adams, education for Extinction. 51. 52. 54.

29. Aboriginal Committee. Liberating Our Children, 63.

30. De Palma, "Canada's Indigenous Tribes." At. A3-

31. NASW. Code, 2.

32. Ibid., 5-

33- See Rappaport, “In Praise of Paradox."

34. NASW, Code. 5.

35. 1 hid.

36. Ibid.. 6.

37. See Saleebey, Strengths Perspective and Canda and Yellow Bird.
"Another View.”

38. NASW, t 'ode. 6.

39. See Lee, liin/foircnncnt Approach.

40. NASW, ( 'ode. 6.

41. Kolevzon, "Conflict and Change," 51.

42. See Nabigon and Mawhinney, “Aboriginal Theory.”

43. Haynes and Holmes, Invitation. 227.

44. See Summers and Yellow Bird. “Building Relationships."

45. Lum, Social Work Practice { 1996), 3.

46. See Zaslrow. Practice of Social Work.

47. Lum, Social ftork Practice (1996), 7-8.

48. See Miley, O'Melia, and DuBois. Generalist Social Wo/k Practice.

49. Shea for, llorejsi.and llorejsi, I'echnigues. 16-27.

50. See Gutierrez, “Beyond Coping."

51. See Gutierrez. "Working with Women" and Lee. empowerment
Approach.

52. NASW .Code. L

53. For more information on the relationship between parents and
teachers, see Baruth and Manning. "Cnderslanding"; Cummins. "Km power-

229

* y

M-= ma«i j. Yj.uiv. Bk> & Vi Nil a C'«in

ment of Indian Students"; Dvkeman. Nelson, and Appleton, "Building";
l Jttlebear,“GeUing Teachers"; Lum, Social \\ brk Praeticei 1980): and Deyhle
and Swisher, “Research."

54. Deyhle and Swisher. “Research." 127. See also Wehlage and Rutter.
"Dropping Out."

55. Deyhle and Swisher. “Research," 120.

56. Cummins, “Kni powermen t of Indian Students," 5. See also Baruth
and Manning, "Understanding"; Deyhle and Swisher, "Research"; Grant ami
Gillespie, Joining the Circle: Littlebear. “Getting Teachers": and Reyhner.
“Adapting Curriculum."

57. See McMahon, General Method.

58. Baruth and Manning. "Understanding": Dvkeman, Nelson, and
Appleton, "Building"; Gilliland, leaching the Xatice American: Littlebear.
“Getting Teachers": and Linn. Social 1 1 brk Practice ( 1996).

59. Grant and Gillespie. Joining the Circle. 48.

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f' * {

Cl • ( ‘ >

235

Part III

Till- Coi.UXil: AND UNIVHRSITY EXPI-RIKNCK

i i
* w

Chapter 10

American Indians and Alaska Natives
in Higher Education

Promoting Access and Achievement

L). Michaki. P.wi.l'

A merican Indian and Alaska Native people are deeply con-
cerned with postsecondary access and achievement, and they
are not alone.*’ Improving American Indian access to and
achievement in higher education is part of a national agenda to
diversify our colleges and universities 1 and is supported by specific
initiatives intended to serve the Native community. 1 Overall, the
higher education community and the general public must continue
to address a legacy of American Indian underrepresentation in higher
education as our society strives to move closer to developing demo-
cratic and integrated multicultural colleges and universities. By do-
ing so. we as a nation strengthen ourselves to confront the social,
cultural, and economic issues that affect all our lives.

To address these issues over time, it is important to determine
periodically how well American Indians are gaining access to and
achieving in the postsecondary arena. This chapter draws upon ex-
tensive literature including a national study describing the charac-
teristics of American Indian K-12 education’ and a source book on

D Mu has i p.v.r

American Indians in higher education that examines demographics,
access, enrollment, degrees conferred, financial aid, faculty repre-
sentation, tribal colleges, and policy implications."

The chapter begins with an overview of American Indian access to
higher education, presenting data on precollege attributes such as
admission test scores, core curriculum course completion, and col-
lege admissions criteria. This collection of precollege attribute data
is balanced by an examination of the possible influences of school
and environmental attributes on postsecondary access. American
Indian achievement in higher education is examined using national
data on enrollment and degrees conferred, in addition to persistence
and graduation rates at various types of institutions by size and
source of control. The chapter reviews the literature to identify
actions that promote American Indian achievement in higher educa-
tion and concludes with comments on an overall strategy to improve
American Indian postsecondary access and achievement.

Access to Higher Education

The National Kducational Longitudinal Study (NFLS:88) of eighth-
grade students, which began in 1988, found that American Indians
are less likely to be college bound than other prominent groups in
the United States. For example, while American Indians represented
0.8 percent of the total sample, only 0.4 percent were college bound;
among White (non-Hispanic) students, who represented 74 percent
of the total sample, 80 percent were college bound. Myriad reasons
exist for this discrepancy. This section examines precollege attributes
of American Indian students in tandem with school caul environ-
mental attributes to understand better the factors that influence
movement from high school to college.

Precollege attributes. College admission test scores, core cur-
riculum course completion, and the proportion of students meeting
certain college admissions criteria provide some insight into higher
education access issues for American Indians. Two predominant
college admission U*sts administered to preeollegc students are the
Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT).
As shown in Table L overall scores among American Indians gener-
ally lag behind the nation in both tests. Although scores rose be-
tween 1987 and 1997. on average. American Indians consistently

Amlrican Indians and Alaska Naiivfs in HiGufR Educaiion

were 74 to 66 points lower on the combined verbal and mathematical
SAT scores and 2.0 to 2.2 points lower than the ACT national aver-
age.

Table 1. Comparison of American Indian SAT and ACT
Scores by National Norms: 1987, 1996, and 1997 7

SAT Scores ACT Scores

Group

1987

1996

1997

1987

1996

1997

All Students/National Average

1008

1013

1016

20.6

20.8

21.0

American Indian

934

960

950

18.4

18.8

19.0

American Indian students also appear to rank below the U.S.
average in completion of core curricula for high school graduation.
As shown in Table 2, only 26 percent of the American Indians did so
in 1990 and 31 percent in 1992. This compares to 40 percent of the
total U.S. population in 1990 and 47 percent in 1992. While the
percentage of American Indian students completing a core curricu-
lum increased by 5 percent between the two periods, these increases
are still 14 to 16 percent lower than the total sample.

Additional analysis of N ELS: 88 data indicates that most Ameri-
can Indian college-bound high school graduates do not meet any of
the five specific criteria identified as being important to college
admissions officers. For example, only 5 percent of the American
Indians had a grade point average of 3-5, compared to 19 percent of
the students nationwide. .Just 2 percent of the American Indians had

Table 2. Comparison of Percentage of American Indians
Completing a Core Curriculum for High School Graduation to
Total Sample: 1990 and 1992 8

Percent Completing Cere Curriculum

Group

1990

1992

Total Sample

40%

47%

American Indian

26%

31%

241

i \ ,

D. M-- *«Ad pA.'t l

a combined SA'r of 1,100 or better, compared to 22 percent of all
college-bound high school graduates. Approximately 25 percent of
the American Indians received positive teacher responses to a series
of survey questions, compared to 42 percent of all students. About
58 percent of the American Indian students did participate in two or
more extracurricular activities; however, this compares to 68 per-
cent of the total sample. The analysis also reveals that only 24
percent of the American Indian high school graduates completed a
college preparation curriculum, compared to 56 percent of all col-
lege-bound high school graduates in the sample.

At first glance, per-eollege attribute data reveal some gains, but
they still suggest an inability of American Indian students to perform
well on standardized tests and to meet important admission criteria.
It is not surprising that they arc underrepresented in the higher
education arena, which relies on test scores and academically related
criteria to screen access and predict success. The problem could,
then, be fixed if we got American Indians to do better on standard-
ized tests and to meet important admission criteria that we expect of
all Americans.

While attractive on a surface level, the strategy of simply “fixing
the American Indian” is unacceptable. This personal-deficit approach
does not adequately address the overall complexity of issues that
conspire to undermine attempts by American Indians to gain access
to postsecondary institutions. Evidence suggests college test scores
and academic criteria such as high school grade point averages are
not powerful predictors of college success among American Indi-
ans/' Although it can be helpful to consider such factors, it is still
necessary to broaden our scope to include appropriate attributes at
the heart of preparing American Indian students for pursuing a
higher education degree. Better indicators of success would he the
school and environmental attributes that determine the quality of
schooling American Indians receive throughout their K-12 experi-
ence.

School and environmental attributes. A 1997 report, which
uses American Indian data collected through the Schools and Staff-
ing Survey (SASS), provides another vantage point for examining
school and environmental attributes that might influence
postsecondary access among American Indian students."’ SASS is

< ; /

242

A) A'.r A H-'-hF 1 * t.

A'.H »*i Ah IN; -AKV .\\ t

an integrated survey of American schools, school districts, princi-
pals, teachers, and student records that includes an oversample of
schools funded or operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
and public schools with high percentages of Indian student enroll-
ment. The SASS database is unique because characterizing the na-
tional extent of education services received by American Indian
students is not easy and is rarely attempted.

The small size of the American Indian population (approximately
one percent of the U.S. population) has meant that these students
and the school personnel who serve them are almost never repre-
sented in sufficient numbers in national education studies to permit
reliable and valid generalizations about their characteristics. Fur-
thermore, tribal and linguistic diversity, geographic dispersion, and
the tendency of American Indians to reside in remote rural areas
have made national studies of this population very costly and beyond
the reach of most education researchers. However, the Indian supple-
ment to the ongoing SASS data collection program represents an
important effort by the U.S. Department of Education to explain to
educators and policy makers many of the issues that confront the
schools, administrators, and teachers serving American Indian stu-
dents.

Using SASS data, a recent study finds that 10 percent of all Ameri-
can Indian students attend schools funded or operated by the Bu-
reau of Indian Affairs (hereafter referred to as HI A/tribal schools)
and that B6 percent attend public schools where American Indians
constitute 25 percent or more of the total student enrollment (here-
after referred to as high-Indian-enrollment public schools). 11 Nearly
all of these schools are small (less than 500 students) and located in
rural areas of the United States. This combination of school size and
location presents unique challenges when examining postsecondary
access issues. For example, educational costs per student are typi-
cally higher for rural schools, prohibiting the implementation of
advanced or college preparatory classes, while economic and social
features such as poverty and low educational attainment among
adults may contribute to students not achieving their academic po-
tential. However, small schools also offer potential benefits not en-
joyed by larger institutions. Studies conclude that drop-out rates are
lower, teaching is more effective, and fewer behavior problems arise
in smaller schools. 1 '

*) v

The quality of students' Ivgh school experiences that cultivate
postsecondary aspirations and intentions is determined, in large
part, by the learning environment that principals and teachers are
instrumental in creating. As noted by the Indian Nations At Risk
Task Force and White House Conference on Indian Education, a
critical need exists to increase the number of qualified American
Indian administrators and teachers who can serve as positive role
models and who possess knowledge of Indian traditions, cultures,
and learning styles. In the 1993-94 school year, only 47 percent of
the principals in BIA/trihal schools (where nearly all students are
American Indians) and just 13 percent of the principals in high-
Indian-enrollment public schools were American Indians. Sixty-six
percent of the BIA principals and 29 percent of the public school
principals had received training in Indian education administration.
Such training could enhance program development and community
relationships designed to meet the needs of American Indian stu-
dents. Only 38 percent of the teachers in HI A/tribal schools and 15
percent of the teachers in high-Indian-enrollment public schools
were American Indians; nationally very few teachers reported they
had majored or minorcd in Indian education (0.05 percent), and
even in BIA/ tribal schools, only 2 percent held a college major or
minor in this area.

The serious issues facing schools in which American Indians con-
stitute a significant percentage of the student body can provide
additional insights into learning environments. More than 40 per-
cent of all principals and teachers in BIA/trihal schools and high-
Indian-enrollment public schools reported that poverty was a seri-
ous problem in their communities. Poverty and the associated lack of
social services in rural areas probably contributed to additional
problems identified as serious (parental alcohol and drug abuse, lack
of parental involvement, student absenteeism, and student apathy)
hv 25 to 40 percent of principals and teachers. These statistics are

not indictments, but too many resonate throughout Indian country
for us to ignore the important and far-reaching impact that good
schools and educated youth can have upon our communities.

' , (
i i o

n a a

Amebic, an Indians and Alaska Naims in H'C-he » Er»i< ajion

Achievement in Higher Education

This section examines postsecondary enrollment, degrees con-
ferred, and graduation and persistence rates at various types of
institutions, and presents findings that promote campus climates
conducive to American Indian achievement in higher education.
American Indians appear less likely to enroll in four-year institu-
tions compared to the national norm. As shown in 'fable 3, between
1993 and 1995, the percentage of American Indians enrolled in
public and private four-year institutions ranged from 48.1 to 50.0
percent: enrollment in public and private two-year institutions ranged
from 50.0 to 51.9 percent. However, the national norm favored
enrollment in four-year over two-year institutions, with approxi-
mately 6l percent attending four-year schools. These findings sug-
gest American Indians are not on parity with the rest of the nation in
achieving enrollment in four-year degree institutions that may pro-
vide better opportunities for employment and graduate education.

Table 3. Comparison of American Indians to Total
Percentage Enrolled in Postsecondary Institutions by
Selected Characteristic: 1993, 1994, and 1995' 3

Year of Enrollment

1993 1994 1995

Selected

Characteristic

American

Indian

Total

American

Indian

Total

American

Indian

Total

Men

42.1°o

44.9°o

41.6V

44.6%

41.7%

44.5%

Women

57.9V

55.1V

58.4°o

55.4%

58.3%

55.5%

Public 4-year

37.7V

40.9V

37.3V

40.8%

38.7%

40.8%

Public 2-year

49.7°o

37.3%

49.6%

37.2%

48.0%

37.0%

Private 4-year

10.4° o

20.2°o

10.7%

20.5%

11.3%

20.7%

Private 2-year

2.2%

1.6V

2.4%

1.5%

2.0%

1.5%

Undergraduate

92.6V

86.2°o

92.2%

85.9%

91.9%

85.8%

Graduate

6.0V

11.8V

lo-

12.1%

6.5%

12.1%

Professional

1.4V

2.0°o

1.4%

2.1%

1.6%

2.1%

D M — : P

AufP.CAfi 1 t;u'an$ anL 1 Alaska Nahvls i\> Hiohip El '*on

Table 5. Comparison of American Indian Six-Year
Graduation Rates to Total Sample for Division I
Institutions by Size and Control 16

Size and Control

Small Public Large Public

Small Private

Large Private

Group

1995

1996 1995

1996

1995

1996

1995 1996

Total Sample

41%

56°o 56°o

57%

65%

72%

71%

American Indian

25%

28% 33%

35%

45%

44%

56%

Difference

-16°o

-28% -23%

-22%

-21%

-2 1c o

-26% -25%

As shown in Table 6, the one-year persistence rate at Division ii
public institutions for first-time, full-time American Indian tresh-
men was 54 percent for the 1993-94 cohort; the three-year persis-
tence rate was 33 percent for the 1991-92 cohort. These rates were 14
to 16 percent iower than the total average. The one- and three-year
persistence rates at Division II private institutions for first-time,
full-time American Indian freshmen were similar (56 percent and 33
percent, respectively) hut 17 and 21 percent lower than the total
average.

l ; irst-time, full-time American Indian freshmen appear to fare
better at Division III institutions, with one- and three-year persis-
tence rates at public institutions being 64 percent and 46 percent,
respectively, and slightly higher at private institutions, with a one-
year persistence rate of 69 percent and a three-year persistence rate
of 49 percent. However, American Indian one- and three-year per-
sistence rates at public Division III institutions were still 12 and 14
percent lower than the average of the total sample, and at private
institutions, the rates were 12 and 18 percent lower.

Promoting postsecondary achievement. Higher education
institutions can make a wide variety of interrelated efforts to im-
prove American Indian postsecondary achievement. On one hand,
the federal government is an instrumental partner in increasing
American Indian postsecondary achievement because of treaty obli-
gations. On the other hand, it is up to the tribes, states, and institu-
tions within those stales to sustain worthwhile efforts that will result
in measurable improvements.

Table 6. American Indian Freshmen One-Year and
Three-Year Persistence Rates for Divisions II and III

Institutions by Institutional Control' 7

Division II

Division III

Public

Private

Public

Private 1

1-year

3-year

1-year

3-year

1-year

3-year

1-year

3-year

Group

1993-94

91-92

1993-94

91-92

1993-94

91-92

1993-94

91-92

Total

Sample

68°o

49°o

73°o

54°o

76%

60%

81%

67%

American

Indian

54%

56° o

33%

64°o

46%

69%

49%

Difference

-14°o

■16°0

-17°o

-21°o

-12%

-14%

-12%

-18%

To promote* satisfactory transition from high school to college,
state governments and postsecondarv institutions need to promote
K-I6 partnerships with tribal communities to elevate the overall
level of precollege academic preparation, postsecondarv aspirations,
and postsecondarv orientation of American Indian students. A na-
tional assessment of American Indian postsecondarv departure is in
agreement, finding that weak postsecondarv intentions and the lack
of ability to integrate social and academic systems both formally and
informally, into the college campus, adversely influence post-
secondary outcomes. ■*'

In response, both the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force and the
National Advisory Council on Indian Kdueation received testimony
requesting resources to help American Indians become more aware
of postsecondarv opportunities and better prepared for the aca-
demic and social rigors of attending college. Culturally specific aca-
demic and student support services are needed once the student gets
into college/ 1 ' If services are provided, it is important to ensure that
American Indians use and are satisfied with these services,* 1 hope-
fully reducing their anxiety levels enough to find comfortable niches
on campus."

Mentoring programs and sufficient financial aid should be made
available to American Indian students at postsecondarv institutions.
The institution should blend linear and holistic thinking within the

f ; t

6 ) i

?48

Amewk. an Indian-, and- A>. a-jv a Nahvi^ in Hioni;. Ed’k.aiu »n

classroom. At the same time, the campus community can look be-
yond overt racism and discrimination in a more concerted effort to
motivate students to put forth the effort needed to succeed. Institu-
tional policies to improve American Indian postsecondary achieve-
ment should spell out the need for multicultural and relevant educa-
tion that spawns reciprocity in faculty-student interactions . 23 To
improve outcomes for American Indian students, institutions of
higher education have to cultivate enduring academic advisor-advisee
and intellectual mentor-mentee relationships. These faculty-student
relationships should be characterized by caring attitudes conveyed
through good communication skills, likable personalities, a willing-
ness to learn cultural norms, respectful interactions, appreciation
for different ways of knowing, and high expectations . 1 ' 1

Some colleges and universities have already responded to the
challenge of improving American Indian access and achievement in
higher education .’ 1 Tribal colleges, in particular, are exemplary in
developing recruitment, retention, and campus environments that
facilitate American Indian student achievement.-'’ Paul Boyer's re-
port on the tribal colleges finds that “research, site visits, accredita-
tion reports, and government audits all confirm their effectiveness.
Tribal colleges have proven their ability to enroll students who were
not served by higher education, to graduate students who have
dropped out of other institutions, and to sponsor successful commu-
nity development programs."-"

Another study demonstrates that tribal college personnel know
and readily accept their roles in serving a wide variety of needs
within the community.-* The expanded nature of this target popula-
tion results in programming designed to reach the populations that
need to be served. The service population includes students with a
wide variety of characteristics: learning disabilities, low academic
confidence, a desire but inability (due to conflicting demands) to
make contact with college staff, the initiative to take advantage of
services offered by the college to further their education, the need to
participate in training and workshops, interest in one or two particu-
lar courses, and aspirations and commitment to obtain a college
degree.

On the reservation, being able to initiate a conversation with
somebody who is functionally illiterate is as meaningful to the tribal
college staff as being able to clarify a program of study for a student

0.40

D. M - ■«*»} i P-- . 1 1

who enrolls in a degree program. Although this may not he reflected
in institutional enrollment records, tribal college staff nonetheless
gain a deep sense of personal satisfaction when reaching out to serve
people in need, regardless of the need. Whether a person needs
somebody to read something to them or guidance on how to ge* fully
enrolled in a degree program, access is promoted and achieved by
tribal college personnel. Faculty and staff in these institutions are
impressive in that they care about, encourage, and attend to the
developmental needs of students and their families in such a way
that it becomes institutionalized and personalized. This spirit of
giving provides fertile ground for a growing sense of optimism among

tribal members.

Many non-Indian institutions have also strived to meet the needs
of tribal communities and American Indian college students. Early
outreach by these institutions evolves into long-term relationships
with secondary schools and tribal communities. Often the number of
alumni from particular tribal communities increases, and alumni
play a vital role in promoting student and faculty organizations that
advance the institutions mission to serve American Indian students
and communities. Beneficial activities include academic programs
and student support services that provide employment opportuni-
ties; grant support; technical support; culturally sensitive counsel-
ing; cultural support networks; scholarly opportunities; and the
chance to interact with faculty about substantive issues regarding
American Indians past, present, and future. Exemplary institutions
try to establish family relationships with the American Indian people.

Important strides are being made to address the needs of Ameri-
can Indians in different disciplines. In the field of education, various
observers have called for learning about American Indian students
and families through immersion into and experience with communi-
ties;"' creation of nontraditionai admissions policies and instruc-
tional delivery ; 10 work with tribal governments ; 11 and emphasis on
hiring knowledgeable personnel and providing professional devel-
opment. w Institutions like Haskell Indian Nations University and
Dine College have developed programs that use the best practices in
teacher education and incorporate valuable knowledge about Indian
education, learning styles, and culturally appropriate curricular ma-
terials . 11

n C ' .

oc,n

Ami me an and At ask a Naiivis >n Hk-hoj Eouc.ahon

However, teacher education is not alone in showing growth in
positive outcomes for American Indian students. Programs in psy-
chology recruit and retain promising students through culturally
appropriate, sensitive programs and outreach” and develop rel-
evant curricula complemented by job placement services.**’’ Business
programs arc beginning to see the value of working with tribal
economic development strategies. The science, mathematics, and
engineering fields have become more familiar with specific needs
among American Indians, r assessing enrollment and completion
trends, ts and offering summer institutes and undergraduate and
graduate research/support programs. 50

Conclusion

As we embark upon each school year, concerned educators should
review American Indian access to and achievement in higher educa-
tion. Improvement in these areas will require federal, state, and
tribal governments to collaborate on an agenda to increase the num-
ber of American Indian students who enter into and graduate from
college. Several initiatives can arise from such collaboration: part-
nerships that link schools serving American Indians to businesses so
students can explore and get training in various career opportuni-
ties, schools that work with tribal communities to increase parental
involvement and community empowerment in determining the mis-
sion and scope of the school, and higher education communities that
collaborate with American Indian communities to address harriers
to advancing the postsecondary recruitment and retention of Ameri-
can Indian students.

Schools and postsecondary institutions have established policies
that clearly articulate a commitment to meet the intellectual and
cultural needs of American Indian students. Academic disciplines
have been successful in creating comfortable academic and social
environments while reaching out to tribal communities to find out
what needs to be addressed and increasing the pool of prospective
American Indian applicants. Within the big picture, all these initia-
tives (small and large) are brought together In’ a level of sincerity and
commitment that strives to fundamentally change the education
system to hotter meet the needs of all American citizens, including
American Indians.

2S 2v»u

D. Mu. ha; i Pavh

Notes

1. D. Michael Pavel (Skokomish) is an assistant professor in the College of
Kducation at Washington State University.

2. From this point, the term American Indian is inclusive of Hskimos.
Aleuts, and other Alaska Natives. At times, “Indian" or “Native” might he used
to refer to American Indians and Alaska Natives.

3. See Bennett, Research on Racial Issues', Justiz, Minorities in Higher
Education ; Richardson and Skinner, Achieving Quality and Diversity, and
Shorn, Minority Access to Higher Education.

4. Indian Nations At Risk Task Force, Indian Nations At Risk, Native
Kducation Initiative, Promising Programs', and White House Conference on
Indian Kducation, “Executive Summary."

5. See National Center for Kducation Statistics, Characteristics.

6. See National Center for Kducation Statistics, American Indians and
Alaska Natives in Postsecondary Education.

7. Figures were derived from the World Wide Web sites for the SAT
(http://www.collegeboard.org) and ACT (http://www.act.org). Combined
verbal and mathematics scores on the SAT range from 400 to 1,600, and the
composite scores on the ACT range from 1 to 36.

8. National Center for Kducation Statistics, Condition of Education. 78.
The core curriculum includes four credits in Knglish, three in science, three in
mathematics, three in social studies, and two in a foreign language.

9- See Baeza, Test Item Bias.

10. See National Center for Kducation Statistics, Characteristics.

It. Ibid.

12. Ravwid, Current Literature on Small Schools. 2.

13. The author generated these findings from the National Center for
Kducation Statistics, “Fall Knrollment Surveys."

14. Ibid.

15. See Shoemaker, Graduate Activity Survey.

16. National Collegiate Athletic Association, 1995 NCAA Division I
Graduation Rates Report. 6 16- 1 7. 624- 25 and 1996 NC A A Pit 'is ion 1 ( ,’radu-
otion Rates Report . 622-23, 6.30-31, 636-37. The 1995 four-class average
graduation rate includes those who entered as freshmen in 1985-86, 1986-87.
1987-88, and 1988-89. and graduated within six years, 't he 1996 four-class
average graduation rate includes those who entered as freshmen in 1986-87,
1987-88, 1988-89, and 1989-90, and graduated within six years. Large public
and private institutions are those enrolling more than 3,500 students.

17. National Collegiate Athletic Association, 1999 NCAA Division II and
III Enrollment and Persistence Rates Rv/>ort. 13-14 and 1995 NCAA Division
l l and HI Enroilmvnt and Persistence Rates Report. 13-14. A p*. rsistence rate

2 S > \ ™

Awjyu an Ini».an< an{> Aiaska Nai \is in H.t .*.»& Emu aa .i„

is based on a comparison of the number of students who started college as
first-time, full-time students in a given year (one-year in 1993-94 and 3-year
in 1990-91) and the number of those who reenrolled as full-time students in
fall of the following year.

18. See Curley, Future Direction*, Kleinfeld, Gorsuch, and Kerr, Minori-
ties in Education-, LaCounte and others. A Elan for American Indian Educa-
tion Minnesota Private College Research Foundation, Divided We Ealt\
Morin, State Legislation, New York State Education Department, Higher
Education Opportunity Programs’, Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Edu-
cation, Student Transfer Matrix, and White-Tail Feather. Reed, and Zelio,
State- Tribal Legislation .

19- See Pavel and Padilla, American Indian and Alaska Native
Postsecondary Departure.

20. See Minnernnd others. Benefits of Cultural Immersion Activities.

21. See Fogel and Yaffe. Ethnic Minority. Dodd and others. American
Indian Student Retention.

22. Gupta. Comparison of Anxiety Steward, Two Faces of Academic

Success.

23. See Kirkness and Earnhardt. “First Nations and Higher Education"
and Weasel Head, Learn in y Styles.

24. See (Jordon, Academic Advising.

25- See Pavel, Swisher, and Ward, "Special Focus."

26. See Bad Wound, “Teaching to Empower”: Cross, "Every Teacher a
Researcher"; Darden and others, "Segregation of American Indian Under-
graduate Students": and St. Cyr, "Recruiting at Indian Tribal Colleges.”

27. Boyer, Native American ('alleges, 2.

28. See Pavel. Postsecondary Access.

29. See Koordhoff and Kleinfeld. Preparing Teachers for Multicultural
( tassrooms.

30. See Grant, "University Reaches Out" and Martin, Kiv'atindee Pino
( 'ummunity teacher Ediu at ton Program.

31. See Shonerd, Recruiting and Retaining Native Americans.

32. See Indian Nations At Risk Task Force. Indian Nations At A'AX and
Nolev, Native and Non-Native teachers.

33. See Swisher, "Haskell Indian Nations University Model" and Upvall.
"Completing the Circle."

34. See McDonald, "New Frontiers in Clinical Training."

35- See Marshall and others, "Multiculturalism and Rehabilitation Coun-
selor Training."

36. See Smith. “The Issue of Compatibility."

37. See Colby. "Broadening the Scope" and Haller and Aitken, Mashkiki.

38. See Campbell and others. Minority Graduation Rates', Denton.
Minority Medical School Enrollment’. Friedman. "Minorities in Engineering

-School"; Matthews, l Underrepresented Minorities- and Watts and Leeca,
“Native Americans and Minority Access.”

39 . See Caple and others, "Creating a ‘Leak-Proof Minority Pipeline :
Morrison and Williams, Minority engineering Programs ; Oros, Indian
Natural Resource. Science and Fmgineering Program' and “Prescription for
Success"; and Sweeney. “INMKD Prepares American Indians."

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768

Chapter 1 1

Tribal Colleges: 1968-1998

YVaynk.J. Stkin 1

T ribally controlled colleges are continuing on their 30-year
journey of exploration, initiative, and development, which be-
gan the summer of 1968 with the founding of Navajo Commu-
nity College (now Dine College) in Tsaile, Arizona. Tribal colleges
can he described as small tenacious institutions of higher education
th at serve the smallest and poorest minority group in the United
States (American Indians) under difficult and challenging circum-
stances. Those colleges are underfunded, overworked, and viewed by
the rest of American higher education with some wonder at their
ability not only to survive, but to survive with panache.

The development work done by the presidents of the tribal col-
leges and by the American Indian Higher Kdueation Consortium
(AIIIKC), the national organization of tribal colleges, has been inno-
vative and productive. Twenty-five years of persistent labor and
cooperation have recently culminated in the development of two
additional strong support systems for tribal colleges. These are the
Kellogg Foundation's $22 million tribal college initiative program.
Capturing the Dream, and the passage of Public Law 103-32, the
Equity in Education Laml-Urant Status Act ( 199 4). The land-grant

Wa^'h J SifiN

legislation will help to preserve and expand a solid programmatic
and financial base for all tribal colleges.-

Tribal Colleges^

Bay Mills Community College, Brimley, Michigan
Blackfeet Community College, Browning, Montana
Cankdeska Cikana Community College (formerly Little Hoop
Community College), Fort Totten, North Dakota
Cheyenne River Community College, Eagle Butte, South Dakota
College of the Menominee Nation, Keshena, Wisconsin
Crownpoint Institute of Technology, Crownpoint, New Mexico
Dine College (formerly Navajo Community College), Tsaile, Arizona
D-Q University, Davis, California
Dull Knife Memorial College, Lame Deer, Montana
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. Cloquet, Minnesota
Fort Belknap College. Harlem. Montana
Fort Berthold Community College. New Town, North Dakota
Fort Peck Community College, Poplar. Montana
Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence, Kansas
institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe. New Mexico
Lac Courte Oreiltes Ojibwa Community College, Hayward,
Wisconsin

Leech Lake Tribal College, Cass Lake, Minnesota
Little Big Horn College, Crow Agency. Montana
Little Priest Tribal College, Winnebago, Nebraska
Nebraska Indian Community College, Macy, Nebraska
Northwest Indian College, Bellingham, Washington
Oglala Lakota College, Kyle, South Dakota
Saiish Kootenai College. Pablo. Montana
Sinte Gleska University, Rosebud. South Dakota
Sisseton Wahpeton Community College, Sisseton, South Dakota
Sitting Bull College, Fort Yates. North Dakota
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, Albuquerque, New
Mexico

Stone Child Community College. Box Elder, Montana
Turtle Mountain Community College, Belcourt. North Dakota
United Tribes Technical College, Bismarck. North Dakota

To understand the true nature of tribal colleges, one must study
their histories, missions, participants, and structures. 1 Potential
benefits of such a study were acknowledged when the Kellogg Foun-
dation convened a gathering of higher education administrators in

Ti.m«ai C< ‘i u < -i v 1 968- 1 998

Albuquerque, New Mexico, in February 1996 to explore the Captur-
ing the Dream initiative. The consensus of the participants was that
everyone in higher education had much to learn from these newest
members of the higher education community. The nontribal college
administrators present agreed that the ability to serve students and
communities under very difficult circumstances holds many lessons
for other higher education institutions. Such service has come with a
price, but it is one that those who make up the tribal college move-
ment arc willing to pay.

History

American Indian education, like so much of the Indian world, had
been destroyed by the time of the twentieth century and replaced
with an education system designed and managed by Kuropean Ameri-
cans to convert Indians into pale-brown imitations of themselves. It
took the upheaval of the mid-twentieth century— with the Great
Depression of the 1930s, World War 11 in the 1940s, and the Civil
Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s— coupled with more en-
lightened legislation concerning American Indians to lay the ground-
work for change in American Indian education. But serious change
for American Indian education began when councilmen Guy Gorman
and Allen Yazzie, Navajo Nation chairman Raymond Nakai, and
educators such as Ned Hatathii, Robert Roessel, and Ruth Roessel
founded Dine, Inc. with the intention of taking control of the educa-
tion of Navajo students. Higher education was one area of Indian
education that tin* founders of Dine. Inc. desired to affect immedi-
ately. An attrition rate of 90 percent or more experienced by Navajo
students attending off-reservation colleges demanded innovative
solutions, fhe participants in Dine, Inc. began exploring the possi-
bility of a community college for the Navajo people. * The idea for a
tribal college had been put forth before, as recently as the 1950s, by
Robert Burnette of the Rosebud Sioux (Sicangu Lakota), but lack of
human and fiscal resources forced him to postpone the dream of a
tribal college on Rosebud for some 20 years.*’

flic 1960s were an era of exciting expansion in higher education,
with community colleges playing a major role. Toward the end of the
decade, a new community college opened its doors each week some-
where in the United Stales. Within this historical tradition, triballv

?(y]

controlled colleges made their appearance on the U.S. higher educa-
tion scene.'

Tribal colleges are in many ways different from nontribal commu-
nity colleges; some have even grown to be more than two-year
colleges by adding selected four-year programs to their curricula.
While their missions are similar, tribal colleges are unique. They are
the only colleges in the world to support and teach curricula, cul-
tures, and languages of their Indian nations. Tribal colleges must
work more closely than other institutions with the federal govern-
ment to secure base funding, and they have become experts at en-
gaging the federal system to ensure their continued existence. How-
ever, it was what the community college movement represented that
led the founders of the tribally controlled colleges’ movement to
choose this precise model of higher education as the most appropri-
ate to meet their people's needs/

Today the tribal colleges and their sister non-Indian institutions
generally remain separate in the political, educational, and tiscal
arenas, but not in spirit. An atmosphere of mutual trust and appre-
ciation does exist between the two systems/'

The founding of Navajo Community College in July 1968 broke
the ground for a number of other individuals across Indian country
to establish colleges. The 31 tribal colleges currently operating across
the United States and Canada demonstrate the success of the tribal
college movement.

American Indian Higher Education Consortium (A1HEC)

headers of the fledgling movement recognized in 1972 that unity
among the small number of tribally controlled colleges was essential
to promoting the tribal colleges as viable options tor Indian people in
higher education. They also understood that a united front allowed
them to reach their goals as a movement more easily and help limit
the natural tendencies of tribal rivalries and differences to create
havoc within this unique movement. Thus, the American Indian
Higher Kdueation Consortium (AIHKC) was born of political neces-
sity/’

AIHKC has played numerous roles as the national representative
of tribal colleges over the 26 years of its existence. Possibly its most
important role has been that of advocate in Washington, D.C., for the

2 / .1

262

Ti*!‘.\{ C iu<-e> 1968-I9b8

triballv controlled colleges, charged with securing and maintaining
the principal funding source of the colleges. The tribal colleges inter-
act with the federal government much as state-supported institu-
tions do with their state governments. AIHKC s greatest achieve-
ment to date was convincing Congress and President Carter in 1978
that funding the tribal colleges was part of the federal governments
trust responsibility based upon American Indian treaty agreements
with the government. The Tribal/y Controlled Community College
Assistance Act (TCCC) of 1978, known familiarly as the Tribal Col-
lege Act, has had a stabilizing influence on the tribal college move-
ment. Implementation of the act meant the difference between life
and death for a number of the fiscally stressed tribal colleges. One of
the greatest disappointments is that the federal government has
never funded the tribal colleges at the level authorized in the Tribal
College Aet but has continually underfunded them in its annual
appropriations to the colleges.

Funding

The 1983 congressional reauthorization of the Tribal College Act
allots $5,280 per American Indian KIT: (full-time equivalent stu-
dent). Based on the Consumer Price Index over the past decade, the
authorization should now be $8,450 per KI'K to keep pace with
inflation. Either figure is considerably higher than the actual amount
of $2,900 per KIT. appropriated in the 1996 federal budget. To keep
the funding of tribal colleges in perspective, these figures need to be
compared to the national average cost for mainstream nonresident
community colleges (that is. without dormitories)— approximately
$7,000 per KI'K, according to the National Association of Colleges
and Business Officers. 11

The tribal colleges do seek funding vigorously from a number of
other federal agencies and sources (other than the Bureau of Indian
Affairs and the Trihally Controlled Community College Assistance
Act funds). They look to philanthropic organizations such as the
Kellogg Foundation and corporate foundations such as U.S. West;
they also have established their own foundation, the Tribal College
Fund. These funds are targeted to specific tasks outlined by the
individual colleges and are generally competed for by tribal colleges
and other institutions of higher education.

£.Ts«£S.i',i

W/mU J

These additional funds can he instrumental in eanying forward

much needed educational programs within tribal colleges. A recent
$12 million grant awarded by the National Science Foundation to
Oglala Lakota College and Sinte Gleska University for a five-year
period illustrates the value of such supplementary funding. Oglala
Lakota College will develop a bachelor of science degree in environ-
mental science: Sinte Gleska University will develop a bachelor of
science degree in computer science with a software engineering
emphasis. Sinte Gleska is also creating a two-year degree program in
basic engineering.*'’

Tribal college boards of trustees are a reflection of their communi-
ties. All tribal colleges are controlled by boards of trustees that
comprise nearly 100 percent local American Indian community mem-
bers. These boards act as buffers between tribal politics and the
colleges, and also act as mediators among policy makers, personnel
selection committees, and local watchdogs of and for the tribal col-
leges. These important responsibilities make tribal college boards of
trustees unique in Indian country because of their autonomous au-
thority as granted by the college charters. Most American Indian
decision-making entities (including tribal governing councils) must
seek the approval of the Secretary of the Interior for their important
decisions; tribal college boards of trustees do not. However, board
members do keep in mind how their decisions will impact their
communities and long-term relations with their chartering tribal
governments.

Administrators and faculty of tribal colleges are a mixture of
American Indians and non-Indians. Most administrators are Ameri-
can Indian, but most faculty members are non-Indian. Whatever the
race of tribal college administrators or faculty members, the stron-
gest characteristic of both groups i> dedication to the students and
the missions of colleges. The accreditation associations evaluating
the tribal colleges, in almost every report made over the past 20
years, have written about the importance of the dedicated adminis-
trators and faculty.

Faculty problems experienced by Iribally controlled colleges gen-
erally fall into three main areas. First is the difficulty in finding and
keeping science and mathematics instructors. Second is the high
turnover among faculty, who often find life on Indian reservations
too isolated and culturally different. Third and toughest to solve* is

'.r,

Twib*u Cfnnr.E^: 1968-1998

the fact that, as the colleges mature and student populations grow,
salaries generally remain low. The issue of underfunding is serious,
and nowhere is it more serious than in recruiting, hiring, and keep-
ing good faculty, administrators, and support staff.

Curricula

Tribal colleges pay particular attention to developing curricula
and programs in response to tribal community needs. A typical
academic and teaching curriculum offered today at a tribal college
would comprise two-year associate degrees in arts, science, and
applied science and one-year certification programs.

Associate of arts degrees are academic programs designed to
prepare students who intend to further their education by transfer-
ring to a four-year higher education institution. Typical areas ot
study include general studies, business administration, tribal or
Native American studies, and the social sciences.

Associate of science degrees are also designed to prepare students
wishing to transfer to four-year colleges or universities upon comple-
tion of their education at a tribal college. Typical courses of study are
business administration, health sciences, and pre-engineering.

Associate of applied science degrees combine practical course
work and general education, designed to prepare students for imme-
diate entry into the work world the day after graduation. Typical
disciplines for associate of applied science degrees would he human
sendees, computer science and information systems, tribal language
arts, office technology, and tribal administrative practices.

One-year certificate programs are designed by the tribal colleges
to respond to local community employment opportunities. Students
are taught within a sharply focused vocational program with much
hands-on practical experience. Such programs arc as wide-ranging
and diverse as the communities and tribal colleges that create them.
General office skills, health sciences, hospitality, automotive trade
skills, and manufacturing assembly are examples of certificate pro-
grams from just one tribal college . 11

hour tribal colleges, Sinte Gleska University. Oglala I.akota Col-
lege, Haskell Indian Nations University, and Salisli Kootenai Col-
lege. have established four-year baccalaureate programs in human
resources, social sciences, and education. Sinte Gleska University

has also developed and received accreditation for the first tribal
college master's degree program in education. This achievement
marks a major stride bv tribal colleges in curriculum development,
considering the financial hardships and isolation they have endured.
'Phis growth is dramatic because in 1972 Sinte Gleska University
(then Sinte Gleska College) offered only 22 courses in scattered
disciplines from psychology to math, with 12 administrators and
faculty making up the college staff. 14

AIM EC has identified a goal that every tribal college should obtain
full accreditation from its respective sanctioning agency. Each col-
lege has had to travel the accreditation path alone, but morale and
expertise have been shared liberally among AIHKC members to the
benefit of all tribal colleges. This accreditation effort has resulted in
27 of the 21 tribady controlled colleges gaining full accreditation as
institutions of higher education. The four that have not gained full
accreditation are well on their way to achieving this goal.

Development

A relatively new effort by tribal colleges -o build a diversified
funding base is the founding of the Tribal College Fund. This inde-
pendent but tribal-college-controlled foundation has raised signifi-
cant funding over the past decade. From interest earned on the
endowment, the foundation has awarded each tribal college a sum
for student scholarships. Fitting these additional funding sources
into the tribal colleges' fiscal designs allows the colleges to begin
examining new programs, new curricula, new forums, and addi-
tional and advanced degrees for their students and communities.
Sinte Gleska University, Oglala Lakota College. Haskell Indian Na-
tions University, and Salish Kootenai College have demonstrated
that advanced degrees arc possible. Many of the tribal colleges arc
now studying such options for their colleges and arc seriously con-
sidering whether to become lbur-vear institutions.

This latest focus of tribal colleges, expanding to four-year col-
leges, is a strong indication of how optimistic these institutions are
about their future growth and development. The need for bigger and
better tribal colleges is borne out by an important statistic in Indian
country: 50 percent of the American Indian population of the United
States is age 2 \ or younger. This contrasts with the figure of 20

766

T vibai C < '-t * t a s: 1968-1 998

percent of the general U.S. population being in this youngest age
group. 1 *’

Tribal colleges have also reached out to their non-Indian sister
institutions of higher education and have been doing so since the
founding of the tribal college movement. In the early days of the
movement. non-Indian institutions acted as funding conduits to
tribal colleges that had not yet earned accreditation candidacy. Non-
Indian institutions also participated in cross-registration of students
and lent faculty to the tribal colleges upon request. This cooperation
has blossomed into full partnerships between tribal colleges and
four-year mainstream institutions, partnerships that open to both
kinds of institutions innovative science and mathematics opportuni-
ties, two-plus-two teacher training programs, distance learning and
other telecommunications programs, and effective articulation and
course transfer agreements. The recent land-grant status bestowed
upon tribally controlled colleges will enhance the opportunities for
tribal colleges and non-Indian institutions to continue their devel-
opment of mutually beneficial partnerships.

Kvcn with all the positives that have transpired over the past 30
years, major road blocks still face tribes that desire to develop and
found new tribal colleges. The two major obstacles are funding for
such efforts and maintaining the will to persevere in the face of all
the difficulties that appear when trying to start such institutions.
There are only 31 tribally controlled colleges serving tribes on iso-
lated reservations scattered across the western and midwestern
United States; yet there are approximately 300 tribal nations of
American Indians. This means only about 10 percent of all reserva-
tions are served by tribal colleges. There is much room for growth in
the tribal college movement, which hinges on pulling together ad-
equate resources and leadership in Indian country.

Conclusion

The period from 1968 to 1998 has seen the number of tribally
controlled colleges grow to 31. a remarkable record in the history of
higher education in the United States. The positive impact of tribal
colleges on the American Indian people and communities they serve
is phenomenal, particularly as represented by the successes of their
students in the workplace and in the mainstream institutions to

267

W-V'fJl J. SlfiM

which they transfer. The impact seems even more powerful consid-
ering the pride and hope the colleges have spread throughout Indian
country.

Tribal college presidents and AIHKC staff are asked frequently by
tribal people from across the country, “How can we start our own
college?” The willingness of the tribal colleges, AIHKC personnel,
and friends and supporters of the tribal college movement to help
others start their own tribally controlled colleges is the hallmark of a
truly serious social and education movement.

The “can do” attitude exhibited by all associated with the tribal
college movement is an example of inspiration and encouragement,
and a worthy model to emulate. Tribal colleges still have a long way
to travel to reach fiscal security, but relative to the most important
higher education goal— staying true to the school mission— tribal
colleges have succeeded in abundance.

Notes

1. Wayne .1. Stein (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) is director of Native
American Studies at Montane State University.

2. See U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, AIHKC testimony.

3. This list is updated regularly by the American Indian College Fund. See
Where Arc the ( 'olhyes? at http://www.collegcfund.org/whercare.htm (12
December 199B).

4. A growing hotly of literal uix* about tribal colleges can inform interested
readers. A comprehensive source is Paul Boyer’s Xalicc American Col/eyes.
Boyer provides a brief history of American Indian education and the tribal
college movement before entering into a strong analytical presentation of
where tribal colleges are today in their development and in carrying out their
stated missions. Trilnilly C 'out rolled ( ’ol/eyes l>v tin* author of this chapter
explores the history of American Indian higher education participation and
the first l() years of the tribal college movement, 'fills publication focuses on
tile first six tribal colleges, their founders, and their struggles to bring their
colleges into existence. Also included is the history of the founding of the
American Indian Higher Kducation Consortium (All I KC) and a brief discus-
sion ol the second and third waves of tribal colleges, which began in the late
1970s and early I9«0s.

Doctoral dissertations and journal articles are other gootl sources of
information on tribal colleges. The past 10 years haveseen the subject of tribal
colleges chosen In a nuntberof very knowledgeable individuals such as.lanine
Pease- Pretty On l op and Nathaniel R. St. Pierre. Both had much experience
with tribal colleges before researching and writing their dissertations on the

i % e

268

Tdibai C colors: 1968-1998

subject. .Journal articles are now numerous on tribal colleges and their
functions. I > ibal C bllegeJournaicove rs a wide array of topics related to tribal
colleges; each issue usually focuses on a particular topic. Back issues are
available by contacting journal editor Marjane Ambler at P.O. Box 720,
Manco, CO, 81328; telephone 970-533-9170.

5. 0. Gorman, Personal Interview, 22 November 1986.

6. See Stein, Trihally Controlled Colit yes.

7. See Ramire/.-Shkweqnaabi, “Roles of Tribally Controlled Community
College Trustees."

8. Most community colleges, both tribally controlled and non-Indian
schools, share common missions. The colleges a re truly neighborhood schools
with open admissions policies. Their goals are to serve the education needs of
the community, provide academic courses that prepare students to transfer to
four-year institutions, offer technical courses that prepare students for the
work world, accept any high school graduates or GKD certificate students,
serve the underserved regardless of race, and work closely with community
leaders to improve local economic conditions.

9. See Stein, l ’riba III/ Controlled Col ley es.

10. 0. Risling, Personal Interview, 23 November 1986.

11. Tiger, Personal Interview, 8 March 1995.

12. See Butler, “Tribally Controlled Colleges Can Start a Technical Ca-

reer.

13- Bay Mills Community College, 1994-96 Cataloy.

14. See Stein, Tribally Controlled Colleges.

15. U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Veterans’ Affairs.
All IPX' testimony, 1995.

Bibliography

American Indian Higher lulucation Consortium (A1H1X). Tribal Colleges.
Informational handout. Arlington, VA; All IRC, 1995.

Bay Mills Community College. 1994-1996 Cataloy. Bay Mills, MI, 1994.

Hover, Paul. Native American Colleges: Progress and Prospects. Princeton,
N.I: Carnegie foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. 1997.

Butler, M. K. “Tribally Controlled Colleges Can Stall a Technical Career."
Diversity /Careers 3(7): 20-25 (winter 1995/spring 1996). Publication for
Technical Workforce Diversity. Springfield. NT Remind Communication.

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of 'leaching. Tribal ( 'alleges: Shap-
ing the bhturc (if Native Anierica. Princeton, N.I; Carnegie Pnundation for
the Advancement of Teaching, 1989.

1 looser, Schuyler. “Underfunded Miracles; Tribal Colleges." Indian Nations At
Risk. Paper no. 8. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of ^duration, 1992.

OAO c \ '

Wawj J. Sn if j

“Map of Tribal College Locations." Annual C 'allege Guide for American Indians
for 1994-95- Boulder, CO: American Indian Science & Engineering Society,
1994. ERIC Document Reproduction Sen-ice No. ED 377 995.

Ranurez-Shkwecjnaabi, B. “Roles of Tribally Controlled Community College
Trustees: A Comparison of Trustees' and Presidents' Perceptions ot Trust-
ees* Role." Ph.l). diss.. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1987.

Schmitt, Carl M., and Mark .1. Plata. Trends in Higher Education by Racial/
Ethnic Involvement: Fall 1952 through 1991. Washington, DC: National
Center for Education Statistics. 1993. ERIC Document Reproduction Ser-
vice No. ED 355 848.

Stein. Wayne. I. ’Tribady Controlled Colleges: Making Good Medicine. New
York: Peter Uing, 1992.

U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior. AIllEC Testimony, 8
March 1994.

U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on Veterans’ Affairs, Housing and
Urban Development, and independent Agencies Appropriations. AIHEC
Testimony. 5 April 1995.

U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agricultural. Rural Develop-
ment, and Related Agencies. AIHEC Testimony, 31 May 1995.

d t ^

07 n

Chapter 12

The Vanishing Indian Reappears in the
College Curriculum

Clara Sri-; Kidwi-m. 1

S ince their inception in the late 1960s, Native American or
American Indian studies programs have served as outlets for
student political activism; as affirmative action programs to
increase the number of Indian students at colleges and universities;
and as intellectually coherent, interdisciplinary, academic programs.
Their development and persistence in college curricula has both
contributed to and been made possible by a growing body of scholar-
ship that encompasses key themes of tribal sovereignty, cultural
integrity, relationship with the land, and importance of Native lan-
guages for American Indian communities.

The History of Native American Studies

Native American studies programs in college curricula have
changed significantly from their early inception in the late 1960s and
early 1970s. The first programs were created in the ferment of Indian
activism and rising political consciousness marked by the Civil Rights
movement and anti-Vietnam War sentiment of the time. The Civil
Rights movement raised issues of equal access and affirmative ac-

Ct Ai/A Suf K-i>‘.vui

lion in higher education. The political activism spawned by U.S.
involvement in the Vietnam War increased sensitivity to racism. Not
without reason, activists compared the massacre of Vietnamese vil-
lagers by U.S. soldiers at My Uai with the massacres ol Cheyenne
families at Sand Creek, Colorado, in 1864 and Big Foots band of
Lakota (Sioux) at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1890.

For American Indians, the abridgement of rights guaranteed in
long-standing treaties was also a cause for activism. Yakamas,
Puvaliups, Makahs, and members of other local tribes staged “fish-
ins" in Washington state in 1964 to assert fishing rights guaranteed
by treaties. Iroquois people blockaded bridges between Canada and
the United States to assert treaty rights of international free passage.
Urban Indians in Minneapolis established the American Indian Move-
ment to monitor police brutality against Indian people in the Franklin
Avenue area of the city.-’

The takeover of Alcatraz Island gave the burgeoning Red Power
movement national visibility. On November 9, 1969, a small group of
Indian students from the University of California at Berkeley and
San Francisco State University occupied the abandoned federal prison
on the island. Although they were forced off the island by federal
marshals, a larger group retook the facility on November 20. The
occupation lasted until June 11, 1971, attracting widespread media
attention and sympathy for Indian causes. 1

Creating a Center for Native American Studies at Alcatraz was one
of the proposals made by the occupiers. The center would “train our
young people in the best of our native cultural arts and sciences, as
well as educate them in the skills and knowledge to improve the lives
and spirits of all Indian peoples.” The proposal echoed earlier de-
mands bv Indian college students that had resulted in the creation of
the first academic Native American Studies programs in major uni-
versities throughout the country. The students involved in the Alcatraz
takeover bad been taking courses in the programs at Berkeley and
San Francisco State. Many left the classroom to participate in a real-
life learning experience on “the Rock."'

These early Native American studies programs arose from a rejec-
tion of traditional curricula that ignored or misrepresented Native
Americans, their cultures, and their place in American history. Indi-
ans wanted to learn about their own cultures and ways ol serving
their own communities. At Berkelev, the Native American studies

Vk i

070

Tyf Vam>s»'iK'C Indian Reapi* a»^ in tut CouLOt Cumac.uium

program was part of an Ethnic Studies Department approved by the
faculty senate in response to the Third World Student Strike that
shut down the university for about three weeks in the spring of 1969.
At the University of Minnesota, students and administrators negoti-
ated a proposed curriculum that would offer “an education that is
adequate to deal with the complexities of contemporary Indian af-
fairs.”"’

The complexities, however, were often submerged in rhetoric and
polemic. The widespread popularity of Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart
at Wounded Knee evoked waves of White middle-class guilt. The
book was a catalog of injustices and massacres that contributed
significantly to the idea that all Indians died out after 1890. Vine
Deloria, Jr. countered the myth of the vanishing Indian in Custer
Died for Your Sins, a critique of Indian stereotypes that left anthro-
pologists dismayed and Indians with a new sense of righteousness.

Demands for Native American studies programs often grew out of
the political and sometimes physical confrontations that accompa-
nied the demands of Black students for Afro-American studies. In
this atmosphere of hostility and challenges to the legitimacy of exist-
ing curricula, faculty and administrators were often highly suspi-
cious ot the academic content of newly formed programs. Conse-
quently their support was lukewarm at best and nonexistent at
worst, and many programs faded rather quickly from the academic
scene/* At Minnesota, the Department of American Indian Studies
was dismantled after a period of internal turmoil, and its faculty
members were distributed throughout other departments. At the
University of California at Davis, the Native American studies degree
program was suspended fora time when faculty retirements seemed
to threaten the stability of the department.

During the 1980s, however, Native American studies programs
were given a new academic role. The initial fervor of Civil Rights
protests settled into the more mundane routine of court cases and
legislative processes that institutionalized newly asserted rights:
affirmative action programs emerged out of national concern over
equal employment opportunities and access to education. In 1982
Alexander Astin published an influential study, Minorities in Higher
li duration . and college administrators, confronted with appalling
r><atistics on minority attrition rates, saw Indian Studies programs as
vehicles to recruit and retain American Indian students. If Native

273V k V

O'M/aSvi K.ia'.ui

American students could take courses relevant to their own experi-
ences, they reasoned, these students would flock to campuses in
greater numbers, reversing their statistical underrepresentation.
Many colleges and universities advertised Native American or Ameri-
can Indian studies programs that consisted of one or two history,
anthropology, or English courses and perhaps a part-time student
services person designated as an American Indian counselor.

In the late 1980s the rhetoric justifying recruitment of under-
represented groups shifted to issues of demography and American
competitiveness in a global economy. In 1988 the Commission on
Minority Participation in Education and American Life produced an
influential report on higher education, Onr Third of a Nation. It
projected that by the year 2000, one-third of the U.S. population
would be composed of members of minority groups— Asian, Black,
Hispanic, and American Indian. The report brought home to politi-
cians the fact that unless minorities became more involved in higher
education, U.S. competitiveness in the world economy would suffer.

The increasingly multicultural makeup of American society also
focused attention on issues of multiculluralism in the college cur-
riculum. As the numbers of minority students increased, adminis-
trators and faculty turned to the rhetoric of cultural diversity in the
curriculum. The administration of the University of California at
Berkeley adopted the motto “Excellence in Diversity." and the fac-
ulty senate adopted a new graduation requirement— completion of a
course comparing the experiences of at least three major ethnic
groups in the United States. Stanford University gave instructors
greater latitude to include new materials on their reading lists in the
Western Civilization course required of all students for graduation.
The call for multiculturalism resulted in a backlash against diversity
of curricular offerings ( Thick lilk Speaks had joined and sometimes
displaced Shakespeare in English course reading lists) and led to
sometimes heated debates over the nature of the ration.

In the 1990s legislation ended many affirmative action programs,
discontinuing race-based scholarships and admissions programs.
The fact that scholars continue to debate the very notion of race as a
biological way of categorizing human beings only complicates the
political issues of affirmative action.

Despite the changing academic politics of Native American stud-
ies. a number of programs still exist, and they have gained academic

’)IA

Tut Vanishing Indian Rc appears in int Coufgf CuRRiCuium

legitimacy. The University of Arizona established a masters degree
program in 1982 and added a doctoral degree in the area in 1996.
The University of California at Los Angeles established the first
master's degree program in Native American studies in 1985- Pro-
grams at the University of Minnesota and the University of Califor-
nia at Davis have been revived after periods of decline. Although a
number of universities offer a minor in Native American or Ameri-
can Indian studies (e.g., University of Wyoming, University of Mon-
tana, Montana State University, University of South Dakota, and San
Diego State University), only a few offer a full bachelor’s degree
program (University of Oklahoma, University of Minnesota, Bemidji
State University, University of California at Berkeley, and University
of North Carolina at Pembroke). 8

One of the most notable trends in the development of Native
American studies programs has been the emergence of the American
Indian Higher Education Consortium. Beginning with the establish-
ment of Navajo Community College by the Navajo Tribal Council in
1968, the number of colleges controlled by tribal councils or tribal
boards has grown to 31. Although the colleges generally emphasize
basic college courses and vocational education, many include courses
that relate specifically to the history, language, and culture of the
tribe. For example. Little Big Horn College offers a curriculum in
Crow Studies, and Salish Kootenai College has a tribal studies cur-
riculum. Staff members often include Native speakers of tribal lan-
guages and practitioners of traditional arts and cultural activities.
'Hi esc college courses play an important role in preservation of tribal
cultural identity.**

Scholarship in Native American Studies

The establishment of Native American studies programs has re-
sulted from and promoted the emergence of serious scholarly atten-
tion to Native American history, culture, and literature. The rhetoric
of early Native American studies often challenged the stereotypes of
Indians and their history (e.g., the hostile savage, the virgin land)
that prevailed in traditional American history texts, Robert Berkhofer,
noting the resurgent interest in Indians in the early 1970s, examined
White perceptions of Indians in The White Mans Indian and illus-
trated how these perceptions had affected Indian-White relations in

275 Of/

Ci/-«a S>J[ K;t; At u

the twentieth century. Richard Slotkin's monumental study of Ameri-
can literature Regeneration Through Violence traced the emergence
of a uniquely American consciousness out of frontier contact and
conflict with Indians.

Although various reports on the social, political, and legal condi-
tions of Indian people appeared in the first half of the twentieth
century, it was not until 1971 that the first nufor historical study of
American Indian legal status appeared. VVilcomb Washburn’s Red
Man's hand, White Man's haw examined legal attitudes from Fran-
cisco de Vitoria (1526) to John Marshall (1831) to Supreme Court
decisions of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1987 Charles Wilkinson empha-
sized the importance of legal status by pointing out that, except for
Civil Rights legislation, “Indian law has been the vehicle for the
modern analysis of laws enacted during the nation’s first century of
existence more frequently than any other body of law." ,n

Prompted by the demands of tribal leaders and militant activists
for true self-government on Indian reservations, Congress reversed
its policy of terminating congressional recognition of Indian tribes
(enunciated in House Concurrent Resolution 108 in 1954) by pass-
ing the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act in
1975. This act was a major step forward in the assertion of Indians’
rights to administer their own programs rather than relying upon
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and it helped crystallize the concept of
tribes as exercising aboriginal sovereignty as nations. In 1984 Vine
Deloria, Jr. and Clifford Lytle examined the concept of tribal sover-
eignty in The Nations Within: The East and Future of American
Indian Sovereignty. w \ hey discussed the development of Indian tribal
governments and assessed the impact of activism that produced the
takeovers of Alcatraz in 1969, the Wounded Knee trading post in
1973, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington in
1992. They called for reform of Indian tribal governments and re-
newal of Indian cultural traditions as bases for true tribal sover-
eignty.

In the field of history, new interpretations of American Indians
emerged. Until the 1970s, the history of Indian tribes was generally
political/military history of Indian defeats. In 1972, however. Wilbur
Jacobs published Dispossessing the American Indian: Indians and
Whites on the Colonial Frontier and in 1975 Francis Jennings pub-
lished The fnrasion of America: Indians, ('olonudism, and the ('ant

-£ r, * '

27 6

Tut VANiSHiNC. lNf«AN R{ AM’t APMN 1*<E Ct.HUOf CuWMC.UlUM

of Conquest. These works portrayed the English settlers of New
England as rapacious land grabbers and detailed the process of
dispossession of New England’s Indians and the effects of Christian-
ity upon them.

Alfred W. Crosby, Jr. introduced the biological dimensions of
contact in The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Con-
sequences of 1492, demonstrating that disease played a major factor
in the destruction of Native habitats and populations. Henry Dobyns
offered new assessments of the demography of Native American
populations before European contact, dramatically revising esti-
mates of Aboriginal population figures for the Americas to upward of
100 million. His work spawned a vigorous response in scholarly
circles, and debates continue concerning the size of the Native popu-
lation at the time of contact. n

Kthnohistory emerged as a dominant methodology in the study of
American Indians in the early 1950s, when historians writing about
Native Americans discovered their ties with anthropologists as stu-
dents of culture. Their work was prompted by the establishment of
the Indian Claims Commission, which allowed Indian people to
press claims against the federal government for infringement of
treaty rights to land. The investigation of claims required Indians to
present testimony concerning their traditional land areas, subsis-
tence patterns, and land usage. Scholars preparing testimony for
tribes had to use both original documents and testimony by Native
people about their pasts. Historians learned about the importance of
culture in historical study, and antluopok^ists learned the value of
historical documentation for cultural study. 1 *'

The development of ethnohistory shifted the focus of scholarship
in anthropology from studies of acculturation (e.g., the total dis-
placement of cultural values of a subordinate group by those of a
dominant group) to studies of cultural survival, adaptation, and
renascence. James Axlell addressed the need to consider situations
of cultural contact from the perspectives of both cultures in The
European and the Indian: Essays in the Ethnohistory of Colonial
Xorth America (1981). His hook The Invasion Within: The Contest
oj Cultures in Colonial North America (1985) highlighted the re-
sponses of Indians in Now France and New England to Jesuit ami
Puritan missionaries. Anthony F. C. Wallace’s The Heath and Re-
birth of the Seneca (1969) described the Handsome Lake religion

?//

among the Seneca in the first years of the nineteenth century and
demonstrated the power of religious revitalization movements in
reshaping and reasserting Indian cultural values. James Merrell
studied the adaptation and survival ot the Catawbas on the hast
Coast in The Indian*' New World.

During the 1970s Indians emerged not as passive and disappear-
ing cultural victims but as dynamic entities in history. Although
environmentalists adopted the Indian almost as a mascot of conser-
vation (e.g.. Iron lives Cody, an Indian actor, shed a silent tear on the
banks of a polluted stream in a television commercial and widely
distributed poster), serious scholars examined Indian uses and con-
trol of their environments. The early work ot Carl Sauer on the use ot
tire for environmental management was complemented by such
studies as Henry Lewis’s Patterns of Indian Horning in California:
Ecology and Ethnohistory . Calvin Martin, in Keepers of the Game .
moved the discussion of indian relationships with nature in a new
direction, analyzing the role of Indian hunting in the decline of fur-
bearing animal populations in the Northeast woodlands in terms of a
spiritually inspired war on the animals. William Cronon examined
the interaction of New Lngland culture and environment in Changes
in the Land. He stressed the dynamic nature of Indian cultures, their
control of their environments, and their strategies of adapting to
changing patterns of subsistence after Kim. pea n colonists arrived.

The emerging field of archaeoastronomy has shown that Indians
were keenly aware of celestial cycles associated with seasons: they
recorded the cycles in rock paintings, in medicine wheels, and in
patterns of light and shadow, such as that displayed by the Sun
Dagger, which marks the sun’s solstice points at Kajada Butte near
Chaco Canyon in New Mexico. The movement of star clusters such as
the Pleiades and the three bright stars of Orion’s belt was used to
determine the timing of certain ceremonies or to mark planting
seasons for many tribes. 1 1 Studies ot Indian plant domestication and
agricultural practices reached new levels of sophistication with the
development of flotation techniques to recover plant materials from
archaeological sites and electron microscopes to detect changes in
seed form that indicate domestication.'*

Because language is an essential cultural marker, language stud-
ies played an important part in the development ot Native American
studies programs, whose curricula have generally included Native

278

Th? Vanishing Indian Rlaj-pfars in ihf Coufge Curwn.mnM

language instruction. The University of Minnesota offers Ojibwa and
Lakota classes. At the University of Oklahoma, Cherokee, Creek,
Choctaw, and Kiowa are currently taught. In the field of
sociolinguistics, scholarly studies by Gary Witherspoon of the Na-
vajo language and by Keith Basso of Western Apache introduce new
ideas demonstrating aspects of Native languages as a cognitive sys-
tem.

Renewed scholarly attention has been paid to Indian voices in
autobiographies. Several personal narratives collected by ethnogra-
phers in the 1930s were reissued in the 1960s and 1970s, most
notably Black Elk Speaks , whose genesis demonstrates both the
promise and problems of autobiographies as anthropological, his-
torical, and literary sources. 1 ’’

Black Elk Speaks can be read as a collaboration between a non-
Indian novelist and poet, John Neihardt, and a Native holy man.
Black Klk, who represents a truly Lakota sensibility. This book can
also be viewed as the product of Neihardt’s romanticized vision of
the Lakota and their tragic decline. If the truth lies somewhere
between these two extremes, the book demonstrated the importance
of oral history for Native American studies. It also became the sub-

ject of numerous critical literary studies and a major exegesis, The
Sixth Grandfather , by Ray Demallie, which placed it in historical
and cultural context. Demallie offered a sophisticated critique that
analyzed traditional Lakota religious beliefs and history— White in-

teraction in the late nineteenth eenturv and Black Klk s life history,

including his conversion to Catholicism.

On another level, Black Elk Speaks demonstrates the conjunction
of history and memory reflected in much of the literature produced
by contemporary Indian writers and poets. If the reality and impact

of visionary experiences in traditional Lakota society are essential to

Black Klk's narrative, the reality of the mystical world is necessary

too in the powers that Fleur, the medicine woman, commands in
Louise Krdrieh’s Tracks. The ghost of John Stink plays a prominent
role in the history of the Osage Indians in the late nineteenth cen-
tury, the subject of Mean Spirit by Linda Hogan.

The recognition of American Indian fiction as a distinctive genre
in contemporary literary studies eneetively began with N. Scott
Momndnys House Made of Dawn, which won the Pulitzer Prize in

779

Ci aw* Sut K'i*.uu

1968. Momadav mixes memory and history with vivid descriptions
of the New Mexico landscape to convey the alienation the protago-
nist Abel feels in Los Angeles.

Native American art has been the subject of scholarly study for a
number of years* but in the early 1970s studies of ledger art became
important in portraying the transition of Indian cultures from tradi-
tional lifestyles to confinement on reservations in the mid-nine-
teenth century. Art becomes history, as in the work of Karen Petersen*
Helen Blish, and Candace Green.

In the field of fine arts* several scholars began to focus on the
aesthetic qualities of American Indian material culture. Christian F.
Feest, an Austrian scholar working in Vienna, produced Native Arts
of North America* providing a counterpoint to the older anthropo-
logical interpretative framework of Fran/, Boas. Fees! contributed
significantly to the development of a history of American Indian art*
shifting the analysis from the collection of ethnographic materials as
cultural curiosities to discussion of the stylistic techniques and aes-
thetic qualities of these works. The establishment of (he Institute of
American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1962 encouraged
the development of new artistic styles by Indian artists. Allan Houser
and Fritz Scholder taught at the institute and influenced a genera-
tion of students to break away from the flat, pictorial style that had
characterized the work of artists trained at The Studio, the institute's
predecessor in Santa Fe. Scholarly attention to the history of these
developments in Indian painting and sculpture has produced a num-
ber of recent works. 1 '*

Intellectual Coherence in Native American Studies

In 1978 Russell Thornton suggested a group of unique intellectual
areas as the bases for developing American Indian studies as an
academic discipline: oral traditions, treaties and treaty rights, tribal
government* forms of social organization, group persistence. Ameri-
can Indian epistemology, and contemporary issues. 1 ' As a result of
the trends in scholar; 'hip inspired by and contributing to the devel-
opment of Native American studies as an academic area, I propose
that an intellectual framework is now emerging. It incorporates
Thornton s concepts into paradigms from several disciplines, prima-
rily anthropology, history, literary criticism, and legal studies.

rl'6',1 280

Tml V*N«>*»Nr. Inpi^n Rom’it-v.'s sn *hi Coc.u.t Ccf?r<n up m

The key ideas that eonstitule an intellectually coherent statement
of the nature of the field of Native American or American Indian
studies include tribal sovereignty, the importance of relationships to
land in cultural identity, the importance of culture in understanding
the effects of first contacts between Europeans and Native Ameri-
cans, and the significance of Native languages as cognitive struc-
tures. These ideas have inspired scholarly studies and have been
refined bv the results of those studies.

Tribal sovereignty is essential to the continued existence of Ameri-
can Indian tribes in contemporary society. It both depends on and
contributes to the cultural integrity of tribes, as Deloria and Lytle
pointed out in 1984. The idea of tribal sovereignty is thus critical to
studies of past and present Indian cultural and political identity.
Tribes have asserted their rights to self-government based on Ab-
original occupancy of lands in North America and on treaty rights
negotiated with colonial governments and the United States. These
latter rights have given tribes a unique legal and political status, but
one that has evolved over time. The study of Indian-White relations
through history has an intellectually distinctive dimension that must
be acknowledged.

Tribal sovereignty implies that Indian nations have the right to
choose their own forms of government, pursue their ow.i cultural
forms of governing, determine their own membership, and retain
government-to-government relationships with federal and state gov-
ernments. Kaeh of these powers is, however, complicated by both
historical circumstances and the political positions of tribes in con-
temporary American society— taxation, regulation of gaming, eco-
nomic development, and membership complicated by the intermix-
ing of blood among Indian nations and between Indians and Whites.
Indian gaming, a very modern phenomenon, is an interesting ex-
ample. The Indian Ga/ni/u/ Reyulatory Act of 1988 mandated that
stales and tribes enter into agreements with regard to casino gam-
bling on reservations, a requirement that imposes federal regula-
tions upon tribal governments. A recent Supreme Court decision
{Seminole Tribe of Florida r. I ’nited States) has denied the constitu-
tionality of the requirement because it imposes a federal mandate on
state governments. Although the Supreme Court decision gives tribes
freedom from state constraints, it also throws into significant doubt
the mechanisms by which Indian gaming is to be implemented and

281 n .

ClAWVSl* Ku'.Ut

regulated. Understanding the complex issues of sovereignty depends
upon recognition of the unique status of Indian tribes, the dynamics
of cultural change and adaptation, and the historical evolution oi
legal systems within which tribal identities are embedded.

The importance of sovereignty to culture is demonstrated in the
National Museum of the American Indian Act ( 1989) and the Native
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990), which
mandate the return to Native people of Indian human remains and
cultural materials from museums and other federally funded reposi-
tories. These laws are premised on inherent tribal rights ot owner-
ship of those materials; both require museums to send information
on their collections to federally recognized tribes and to consult with
tribes in the process of determining tribal affiliation and usage. In
terms of scholarship, repatriation legislation and practice requires
examining in detail a range of information to determine affiliations,
particularly for materials that predate European contact. Archaeolo-
gists will be asked to determine lines of descent that link contempo-
rary tribal groups with precontact habitation sites and skeletal re-

mains. 1 s

Another key concept is that American Indians have a unique
cultural and legal relationship with land. Although ethnographers
and anthropologists have long acknowledged the critical role ot
environmental factors in shaping cultures, for contemporary Indian
people, studies of religion and philosophy generally start from the
premise that Indian cultures both shaped and were shaped by their
environments. ltl The relationship is embedded historically in treaty
rights. It is also essential in terms of contemporary literature and
aesthetics. 'The Southwestern landscape plays an integral part in
Momadays House Made of Damn. What characterizes Indian litera-
ture is its situatedness in place. Landscape is part of the story in a
distinctive way. Indian painting, sculpture, crafts, and performance
arts derive significantly from cultural affiliation with land.

Another key paradigm for Native American studies is that contact
between cultures must be examined from the viewpoints of both
cultures. If Indians disappeared from American history and largely
from American consciousness in the early twentieth century, it was
because the writing and study of history was embedded in a pecu-
liarly Western Kuropean consciousness. As anthropologist Krie Wolf

M » .

Tm[ Vatj&h>no Im-ian R(A( rt.v;s <\ vt O'ilK-l C"W-<. t-iuo

points out, "We have been taught, inside the classroom and outside
of it, that there exists an entity called the West, and that one can
think of this West as a society and civilization independent of and in
opposition to other societies and civilizations."* 0

History written from a particular cultural viewpoint essentially
disregards the reality of other views. Ethnohistorians have attempted
to construct the differing worldviews of historical actors in situa-
tions of initial contact. The study of contact situations has been
enriched by the realization that culture is not s a i generis but a fluid
and changing phenomenon that constitutes webs of meaning within
which people act.*' 1 The interpretation of historical encounters be-
tween Europeans and American Indians reveals much about not
only Indian cultures but the cultural values of early European colo-
nists."

The study of Native languages is a critical part of a Native Ameri-
can studies curriculum. There is a resurgence of interest in preserv-
ing and reviving languages in Indian communities, and the federal
Administration for Native Americans supports community efforts
with limited federal grants. Although linguists have collected Native
language materials for many years, Indian languages have been
forcibly suppressed by boarding schools and federal policies aimed
at assimilating Indians into American society. There are still ap-
proximately 209 Indian languages spoken in North America, but
nearly 80 percent are in danger of extinction within the present or
next generation. Although it is impossible to save many of these
languages, the study of a Native language offers unique insights into
a different way of organizing one’s world conceptually. Studies about
language can provide some of those insights.* *

Indian cultures were strictly oral cultures before European con-
tact and remained largely so even while European missionaries and
explorers tried to reduce them to written form. The distinctive quali-
ties of Indian languages— their attention to action, relationships,
and frequent lack of precisely defined pronouns— derive from their
dependence upon face-to-face contact between speaker and listener
(e.g.. social context is vital to understanding). The work of translat-
ing texts and the influence of speech styles on contemporary litera-
ture by Indian authors, even those who do not speak Native lan-
guages. are functions of the oralilv of Indian cultures/ 1

C.^-aSo K:*u<

Tribal sovereignty and cultural integrity, relationship to land,
problems of intercultural interpretation of history, and the centrality
of language in understanding culture are essential themes in the
developing discipline of Native American or American Indian stud-
ies. This is not an exhaustive list of ideas. It is broad enough, how-
ever, to subsume many ideas that have emerged throughout the
history of Indian studies programs— the destructive power of stereo-
tvpes. diasporas of Indian tribes, and historical sources of con tem-
po rarv social and economic problems on reservations and in urban
communities. These themes interweave a coherent approach to the
studv of historical and contemporary American Indian communi-

Native American Studies in the Contemporary
Academic World

Scholarship focused on Native Americans appears in a number ot
scholarly disciplines and with manyot the trappings ot conventional
academic life. In the field of literature. Native American studies has
developed the self-reflexivity that characterizes literary studies. N.
Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, .lames Welch, and Gerald
Yizenor are subjects ot critical analyses, doctoral dissertations, and
articles in two journals devoted to new scholarship in Native Ameri-
can studies, fiie American Indian Quarterly and American Indian
( 'uiture and Research Journal/ •

Although indian people will proclaim “There is no word lor art in
our language.** the discussion around the creation of works ot aes-
thetic beuutv by Indian people, in both past and contemporary soci-
ety, continues to produce new scholarship. The Native American Art
Studies Association meets biennially. At its last meeting, scholars
presented papers on rock art sites, ledger hook art, and the work ol
contemporary Indian artists. Here, as in the field of literature, criti-
cal analysis is being applied to forms of Indian artistic expression.

Native and non-Native historians and anthropologists meet regu-
larly at professional meetings to present research on Indian topics,
albeit in relatively small numbers and generally on panels devoted
exclusively t* Indians. Degree-granting programs, including several
at the master's degree level and one at the doctoral degree level, exist
in colleges and uni\ersities in various parts of the country.

'Ml

T'<t 1 m R t ^rrfAr>-~> C %4.t -t C

From political confrontation to affirmative action to
multiculturalism, the presence of American Indians as both subjects
ot scholarship and scholars in their own right has created a new field
of study that focuses a number ot disciplinary viewpoints on a par-
ticular group (or groups) of people. As part of this process, disciplin-
ary lines of inquiry have begun to blur. Anthropologists appear on
panels at meetings of the American Historical Association and the
Organization of American Historians, and historians join anthro-
pologists at meetings of the American Anthropological Association.
Hie American Society for Kthnohistory brings together both disci-
plines. Linguistics and anthropology meld in studies of cognitive
systems in language. Native American studies has thus promoted a
model of truly interdisciplinary learning.

In 1977 a group of scholars working in or familiar with American
Indian studies programs gathered at the Universitx of California at
Los Angeles (UCLA) to discuss the development of a master’s degree
program in American Indian studies at UCLA and. in a broader
context, to discuss the future of the Held. There was general agree-
ment that Indian studies was not an academic discipline, but that it
had the potential to develop an intellectual framework to become
one. '" In the intervening 20 years, the development of new ideas,
new approaches to the study of American Indians, and new forums
lor tile exchange of ideas have given academic credibility to the study
of American Indians in traditional disciplines and to the field of
American Indian studies as an intellectual enterprise in its own
right.-

Notes

L Clam Sue Kidwoll (Choctaw and Chippewa) directs the Native Ameri-
can Studies program at the University of Oklahoma.

2. Smith and Warrior, l.ihc a Hurricane . I2~-S0.

S. Forbes “Native Struggle lor Liberation." Talbot. "Indian Slu-

dents." 03-102: Harvey and Johnson. “Uovernnieiil and the Indians," ru-SS.

4. Fortunate F.agle. "Urban Indians," 46; Kemnil/.er, "Personal Memo-
ries." lOM-OO.

■7 Miller. “Involvement in an Urban University" X2~. ,4.41.

(>. (liven the higliK variable definitions of what constitutes a Native

78b ? U i

ClAPA S'j* K>1 \'.Ui\

American or American Indian studies program, it is difficult to say how many
have actually existed over time. A measure of their shifting fortunes is found in
three studies: a survey of 100 programs in 1974 conducted by the Western
Interstate Commission on Higher Education (W1C11E). a second WIC.HL sur-
vey in 1976-77. and a survey of 107 institutions conducted in 1980-81 by the
American Indian Culture and Research Center at UCl«A. I he overlap between
the second W1CI IE survey and the UCI A survey was only 57 institutions, from
which we can infer that although new programs had emerged, many programs
that existed in 1976-77 had changed or disappeared by 1981. For more informa-
tion. see ljockc. Survey of College and University Programs (1974); I-ocke,
Survey of College and University Programs (1978); and 1 loth and Cuvette,
Issues for the Future.

7. See Bloom, Closing of the American Mind: Schlesingor, Disuniting of
America: and D'Souza, Illiberal Education .

8. Information on the programs was gleaned trom a selective search ot
college and university Internet sites, identified through the Intoseek Web
browser and personal knowledge, -'he American Indian Studies Center at
UCI A has recently conducted a survey of 12 programs; results are available
from Dr. Duane Champagne, director of the center. Dr. Robert Nelson at the
University of Richmond has conducted a survey for the Association for the
Study of American Indian Literature and produced a new guid'* listing 69
Native American studies programs. An electronic version of the guide is avail-
able at http://www.richmond.edu/ 'melson/guide.html (12 Decemhei 1998).

9 . See Carnegie Foundation, Tribal C 'alleges and Boyer, Xalivc Ameri-
can ( 'alleges.

10. Wilkinson. American Indians, 14- Earlier studies that locused on
American Indians include Lindquist, Red Man m the l mfed States:
Sehmeckebier, Office of Indian Affairs: Institute tor Government Resea ich.
Problem if Indian Administration: Cohen, Handbook of Federal Indian fair:
and Brophy. Aberle. and others, The Indian.

11 . Dobyns, "Estimating Aboriginal American Population. 595-416. See
also Dobyns. Satire American Historical Demography \\\\<\ Thornton. Ameri-
can Indian Holocaust.

12. 'fanner, "Krniinie Wheeler- Voegelin, 65-68.

15. See Aveni and Urton, Fthnoastronomy: Aveni, Satire American
Astronomy: Ceci. "Watchers of the Pleiades"; Chamberlain. When Stars
Came Doirn to Earth: and Williamson. Archaeoastronomy in the Amen-

14. See Struever, "Flotation Techniques' and Ford. Prehistoric Food
Production.

15. See Underman. Red Mother ; Neihardt and Black Elk. Pluck Elk
Speuks: Plenty-Coups, Amcni'an: Lell Handed. Sim of Old Man Hal. Lett
1 hu ded. left l landed: and 1 alayesva. Sun ( hie/.

jo. See High water. Song From the Earth: Wade. Arts of the Sor/h
American Indian: and Archuleta and Strickland. Shared I ‘isions.

1”. Thornton. "American Indian Studies,” to- IS.

t \ i

9RA

TmI V**U!;m<n . !m - an Ri - v*m -n m C« ** t i * -t C , ,i»v

18. Tropo and Hcho-l lawk, “Native American Graves Protection,” 38-48.
54-59.

19. See fyennctl, Ecoloyical Transition; Oliver. Ecoloyy: Steward. Evolu-
tion and Ecology; and Basso, 1 1 Isdotn Sits in Places.

20. Wolf, Europe, 5.

21. Geertz, Interpretation of Cultures. 5. 144.

22. See, for example. Galloway, “The Chief Who is Your Father."

23. Goddard, “Introduction." 3. Studies about Native language include
II vines. In I 'a in and Hinton. Elutes of Eire.

24- See Kroeber, Traditional Literatures.

25. See Yelic. Four Ameriean Indian Literary Masters.

2(>. The results of the meeting were published as a special issue of the
American Indian Culture and Research Journal, vol. 2. nos. 3 and 4 ( 1978).

27. For current listings of Native American studies programs, visit the
KRIC Clearinghouse on Rural Kducation and Small School s on-line Satire
Education Directory at http://www.ael.org/eric/ned.htm {12 December
1998).

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t i 1 j j

Part IV

Thk Ni:xt S i i-rs

Chapter 13

Research to Support Improved Practice
in Indian Education

Kaki;n ( I Avrt >n Swisi i kk
and

John VV. Tiim’I-iconnk* III*

T his book is our attempt to pull together some definitive thoughts
about the education of American Indians and Alaska Natives
from a Native perspective. A field as complex as Indian educa-
tion is not easily defined and packaged into one hook; therefore, we
hope this is one of many books by Native authors that will present
issues and ideas for discussion and study in college and university
classrooms.

Readers will notice two major and related themes among the
chapters. The various authors support the concept of tribal self-
determination in education while they reject the age-old deficit and
stereotypic approaches to education. I bis paradigm shift represents
a fundamental change in thinking, attitude, and approach to re-
search and practice in Native education. Self-determination puts
Native people in control and uses tribal languages, cultures, and
values to enhance student work, research, higher education, and
other areas related to education. Kducators who work from this
paradigm face a challenge because the deficit approach, with assimi-

."ifl.s

G*"K'N $v. •£•»[« & John W Tif-n, « ;\M- ' 111

lation as a goal, remains deeply entrenched in schools. The; effects of
the deficit approach reveal themselves in drop-out rates, attendance
rates, academic achievement test scores, and enrollment and gradu-
ation rates in colleges and universities. The individual chapters in
this book stand alone as excellent readings on a variety of topics, but
together, they represent an in-depth look at current Native thinking
about topics ranging from the historical foundations of Indian edu-
cation, to theoretical and practical aspects of curricula at all levels of
education, to research- based recommendations for the future.

So what arc the next steps we need to take to advance research
and practice in the education of American Indians and Alaska Na-
tives? Clearly, based on chapters in this text, our endeavors must be
guided by tribal self-determination. The education of Indigenous
people is complex given the various circumstances and cultural dif-
ferences of students and their families. Although progress toward
tribal self-determination has been made over the past 80 years, we
continue to see the results of past assimilation and termination
policies and practices play themselves out in the lives of students
today. Much more needs to be done to ensure full participation of all
students in achieving community and individual goals.

This final chapter begins with a description of the student popula-
tion referred to when we discuss Indian education. We then review
the research needs articulated by several authors over the past 10
years or more. We discuss several philosophies and approaches,
some of which are research based, that show promise for improving
practice. We conclude with recommendations for the next steps that
must he taken by researchers and practitioners.

The Student Population

Although American Indian and Alaska Native students generally
attend public, private, and parochial schools, most of the research
and writing in Indian education emanates from the 187 schools
funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), The BIA-supported
schools are located on 6.8 reservations in 28 states; more than 60
percent are tribally controlled, funded throi gh contracts or grants
from the BIA.

About 90 percent of the 600. 000 Native students in the United
States attend public schools. According to the National Center for

296

RrsfAUCM it > Surpnpi Impsovcd pRArfu:r ,n Indian Eiu:- a»kjn

Education Statistics, 1,260 public schools have an American Indian
and/or Alaska Native student enrollment of at least 25 percent.
Another 78,625 public schools have enrollments of American Indian
and/or Alaska Native students that number less than 25 percent.
The small number of Native students in most public schools makes
research and dissemination activities a daunting task. It is much
easier to do these things in the BIA-funded schools, which is why the
knowledge base in Indian education is generated largely from these
schools. 2

While most Native students are successful, too many are not. For
example, Native students have the highest drop-out rate (around 36
percent) of any racial or ethnic group. The National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP) reports that Native fourth-grade stu-
dents score below basic levels in reading, math, and history. D.
Michael Pavel points out that Native students are less likely' to be
college bound and their SAT and ACT scores are lower compared to
national norms (see Chapter 10).

Research

In 1989 dialogues sponsored by the College Board’s Educational
Equality Project and the American Indian Science and Engineering
Society (AISES) were held regionally throughout the country to
discuss what educational changes American Indians wanted for
American Indian youth. The National Dialogue Project on American
Indian Education resulted in Our Voices. Our Vision: American
Indians Speak Out /or Educational Excellence. This report clearly
states that research on Indian history and culture must consider the
perspectives of American Indian people and that American Indian
scholars must "become involved in producing research rather than
serving as subjects and consumers of research.”’ In the three years
after this report, this position was supported by two other significant
events in which the voices of Native people were heard, recorded,
and reported, namely the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force hear-
ings and subsequent report and the White House Conference on
Indian Education and its final report. Both reports call for basic
research, applied research, and the development of programs and
materials from a Native perspective.

In 1993 the Tribal (bllcf/e Journal published a special issue on

90 A , ,

Gavic’N Sw t.mlu & J-- hm W 111

research. An editorial essay, “From Passive to Active: Research in
Indian Country/’ concludes the following:

As we approach the twenty-first century there is a strong col-
lective and collaborative voice ot Indian (and non-Indian) people
speaking about the role ot research in the lives ot Indian
people. Included in this voice are professors at tribal, public
and private colleges and universities; teachers and administra-
tors in tribal, public and private schools; policy-makers at the
local, state and national levels; and last but not least, the tribal
leaders who envision the lives of their people being improved
by research .' 5

The need for authentic knowledge developed by Native research-
ers has been established, but what aspects of Indigenous education
and community life do we need to study and how will our methods
differ from what has been done before? Several documents in recent
vears have identified many nagging quest ions that must be researched
and reported.

One report calls for studies of intertribal communication styles,
learning styles, cognitive skills, alcohol and drug abuse among fami-
lies, development of industry on reservations, the climate at the
universitv for Indian professionals and professors, educational rela-
tionships between American Indian tribes and other sovereign coun-
tries/nations, and leadership power in education. Similarly the au-
thors of this chapter have suggested pedagogy, curricula, teachers,
achievement scores, drop-out rates, higher education, and parental
involvement as areas in need of more research.*

The reports of both the Indian Nations At Risk l ask Force and the
White House Conference on Indian Kducation call tor applied re-
search in the following areas: extent of adult illiteracy and adequacy
of current adult literacy funding and programs; unmet needs in
higher education; progress in higher education including enroll-
ment, retention, and graduation; elementary and secondary enroll-
ment and achievement; identification of gifted and talented indi-
viduals; and demographic characteristics. Development needs out-
lined in the reports i Delude alternative assessment or unbiased stan-
dardized tests to assess student achievement and abilities; effective
parent support programs; instruction, curricula, and program ad-

* * i / •

Rrst arch to Surpom Improved PRAcnefc in Indian Eduomion

ministration for exceptional students of all ages; and alcohol and
substance abuse issues/’

The value of research to decision making is more widely appreci-
ated in Native communities where Native people have become active
researchers, looking for solutions to critical issues facing their gov-
ernments and communities. The insider perspective is valuable in
setting research agendas and in situations where proper protocol
must be followed to gain access to information. Two recent examples
of redefined research paradigms come from the Southwest. Mary E.
Romero of Coehiti Pueblo directly involved Cochiti (and other Keresan
Pueblo) elders in even' aspect of a study that developed a definition
of giftedness from a Keresan Pueblo perspective. Romero's knowl-
edge of Pueblo protocol was important in this study. By following
protocol, she gathered rich data and, in the process, developed a new
and culturally appropriate research methodology.

In Arizona, members of the Education Standing Committee of the
Gila River Indian Community Tribal Council helped design a study
to learn about the choices made by their youth to persist or drop out
of high school. This partnership included the Center for Indian
Education and the Strengthening Underrepresented Minorities in
Math and Science (SUMMS) Institute at Arizona State University
(ASU). Committee members and ASU faculty defined the role of
each partner in gathering, processing, interpreting, and reporting
data, which eventually yielded substantial information about their
youth and the drop-out problem in their community. Both of these
examples exemplify tribal control of the research process, thus cre-
ating models for other communities to follow as they find answers to
their own perplexing problems.

Practice

Much of what needs to be done to improve practice depends upon
good research. While effective practices can be cited in a number of
schools attended by American Indian and Alaska Native students,
those practices are not pervasive enough and arc not sustained over
sufficient periods of time to produce measurable and generalizable
effects.

Several studies indicate that Native language instruction enhances
academic success (as measured on tests) or shows positive results in

299

K a!<i n Gayion Sv.^hi u & Jt •i'f'f W. T.iru onnk; 111

maintaining or revitalizing Native language use in the community
and schools. An excellent example of combining local control and
local knowledge to produce effective practices is found in a public
school district serving Hualapai students in Peach Springs, Arizona:

Since bilingual education began at Peach Springs in 1976, stu-
dent attendance has significantly improved, and Hualapai stu-
dents now graduate from eighth grade (when the program
ends) and from high school in far greater numbers than their
peers in conventional school programs. In 1989, 100% of
Hualapai students who had completed the eighth grade went
on to graduate from high school. These instructional changes,
in which the Hualapai language and culture were authentic and
integral parts of the school, along with an increase of Native
teachers enhanced the integration of the school with the com-
munity. resulted in Indian students* increased success in
school.

The Indian Nation* At A* AX' report also identifies successful prac-
tices in Native education, for example, the Denver Indian Center is
recognized for its Circles of Learning Pre-K Curriculum, an Ameri-
can Indian culturally based model for early childhood education.
Crazy Horse School in South Dakota and St. Peter's Mission School
in Arizona have service integration programs that promote student
health. The Pennsylvania State University's American Indian Lead-
ership Program is noted for preparing educational leaders. Wounded
Knee Klementary School in South Dakota is noted for parental par-
ticipation. Peach Springs School in Arizona is recognized as a model
for its culture-based Hualapai language and technology program.

In recent years, the schools funded by the HIA through the Office
of Indian Kducation Programs (OIKP) have concentrated on school
reform and improvement. In 1987 the OIKP developed a plan to use
the lessons learned in the effective schools research to improve their
schools. Kleven correlates were used, based upon the assumptions
that all students can and will learn, schools can make a difterence,
what schools care about is what they will teach and what students

will learn, and evidence of school improvement is based upon stu-
dent outcomes. ( )ne central correlate was cultural relevance or tribal

culture into

grated into all areas of the schools, which supports stu-

300

Pc$f AVC H »>":• $-Jl>tx .f,M IMPROVIO Pr?AC V.C{ >N 1\[':AN £( • . All. *]

dent self-esteem, success, and respect. The effective schools re-
search combined with the Goals 2000: Educate America Act have
resulted in school reform and improvement in BlA-supported schools.
This reform focuses on developing challenging integrated curricu-
lum-based content and assessment standards. Although these con-
tent standards and assessment strategies were developed for BIA-
supported schools, they have the potential to influence public educa-
tion where schools have significant numbers of Native students. 8

The 01 EP also developed a family literacy program that has been
recognized as a model nationally. The Family and Child Education
Program, known as FACE, was initiated in 1990 to serve children
ages 0 to 5 and their parents in both home and school settings. It is
based on the proven models of Parents As Teachers, Parent and
Child Education, and the High/Scope curriculum for early child-
hood. A fundamental component of FACE is the integration of tribal
languages and cultures in the operation of the program."

As we have noted, many good things are happening in the educa-
tion of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Self-determination
efforts arc evident in all aspects of education but especially in the
control of schools on reservation lands. Research will play an even
more important role as communities determine the effects of reform
and improvement and frame the questions that still need to he
resolved.

Recommendations

What is Indian education today? What will Indigenous education
look like in the future? We believe the momentum that began more
than two decades ago will continue to grow. Young scholars like
Tarajean Yazzie and Tim Begay e on the editorial board of the Harvard
Educational Review will continue to influence what is published
about Indigenous education in mainstream journals. Recent hooks-
like Collected 1 1 isdom by Linda Miller Cleary and Thomas Peacock,
First Person, First Pc copies by Andrew Garrod and Colleen Larimore,
and To Live Heroically by Delores ,). I lull— and the chapters in this
hook all tell the story from our perspective and will he joined by
other Indigenous authors. We need many more Native researchers
to write our stories and improve schooling for our youth and adults.

-an i

Kamn G avi on* Sw»*j»«n^ & John W. T >t-)~£ t unnh 111

We believe a primary focus of research and practice must be the
teaching-learning relationship between students and teachers. This
relationship is the most basic interaction that takes place in schools
each day and one that determines whether students will persist or
not. A mutually respectful and caring relationship is essential to
educational success. We believe that a good teacher is a good teacher,
but when there is a good Native teacher, the relationship between
Native student and teacher is enhanced. When examining the cre-
dentials of potential teachers, school officials and board members
must also consider the qualities and characteristics that assure re-
spect, caring, and communication of high expectations.

Kqual in importance to good teachers is an effective principal or
leadership team. Leadership development in education should not
be left to chance but should focus on school improvement efforts.
Anecdotal evidence in reservation schools suggests school stability is
in jeopardy when there is a high turnover of principals. For improve-
ments to take hold, a school must maintain stability long enough to
plan and implement changes. We must ask research questions such
as, How can effective practice be sustained over enough time to
measure the effects? Fresh research approaches can help us address
this sort of question.

Communities must join forces with schools to recruit and retain
the best teachers and administrators. Grow-your-own programs, in
which local people receive preserviee and professional development
training, represent hopeful new directions for stabilizing the
workforce in reservation and rural schools. Distance learning and
collaborations with nearby colleges— particularly tribal colleges—
and universities now help communities overcome previous obstacles
of isolation and scarce population. Culturally appropriate programs
can be designed through such creative relationships.

In even* community, the daily lives of our youth must be the
central focus of our labor in schools. Adults working within institu-
tions and systems serving youth and their families must begin to
communicate with one another to collaborate more fully in creating
conditions for educational success. The resilience of our youth should
be celebrated and nurtured within the daily settings of families,
schools, and communities, and also within the systems of health,
justice, and social welfare.

dill

RtoEAPC K IO S' if ’P< 'HI PlJAC lie E. .N 1 n»)IAN EOUC A' ION

We must make sure the connections between higher education
and the elementary-secondary systems help students’ transition from
one phase of schooling to the next. The relationships that can be
built between the two systems are unlimited and should include

activities such as mentoring, advanced placement courses, and ap-
plied research.

The misconceptions and stereotypes about Native peoples that
persist in academic content and attitudes and behaviors of school
personnel must be addressed through preservice and in-service
teacher preparation, and in the curricular materials used to train
teachers in colleges, universities, and school districts. We believe
negative stereotypes coupled with inadequate and inaccurate infor-
mation about this nation's Indigenous peoples, particularly in social
studies curricula, damage the self-concepts and subsequent behav-
ior of our youth. We must design and implement studies to deter-

mine if this belief is so. Teachers must be convinced that it is not

appropriate nor feasible to reduce the history of more than 550
different Indigenous nations to instructional units of two to three
weeks. Textbook producers, professional organizations, teacher
preparation programs, and teachers must begin to question what is
gained by introducing young children to Indian units if the children
are not developmentally ready to understand the existence of Native
peoples in the past and in contemporary times.

Native education research and research-based practice must
broaden beyond the de facto reservation context, which has been its
focus up to now. There is a great need to focus research and efforts to
improve practice in public, private, and parochial schools, especially
urban or off-reservation schools attended by 90 percent of Native
students.

Native communities and individuals need to assume a greater
responsibility in educating America and the rest of the world about
our political status and the relationships between our nations and
other sovereigns (e.g., state and federal government) in this country.
The general public and others need to know that the education of
American Indians and Alaska Natives has a historical beginning and
developmental history different from the rest of public education in
this country. Until they understand why there is a field of Indian
education, people will not understand why there is a need to be
concerned about it now and in the future.

m'* r. .. .

Karin G avion Sa*hip & W 1>» o* i *.m>" HI

Building coalitions for research and development among tribal
governments, programs in federal departments, colleges and univer-
sities, professional organizations, and the private sector makes good
sense. Recent executive orders have required federal departments to
respect the government-to-government relationships between fed-
erally recognized tribes and the federal government and to interact
or partner with tribal colleges to improve the health, education, and
economic conditions of tribes. These kinds of partnerships also can
be developed with mainstream colleges and universities and the
private sector.

'l‘li rough organizations such as the World Indigenous Peoples
Conference on Education, American Indians and Alaska Natives
must continue to build coalitions with Indigenous people from other
countries of the world. The education-for-assimilation experience of
other colonized Indigenous peoples has produced similar results.
But Indigenous communities worldwide have also begun to experi-
ence a similar renaissance of the self-determination American In-
dian and Alaska Native communities have undergone in education,
literature, and the arts in the last 25-30 years. By building on one
another’s successes, we can further develop and expand our thoughts
about how to promote use of language and cultural bases tor an
I nd igenous pedagogy.

With budgets subject to the uncertainties of congressional politi-
cal processes, school building and renovation projects on reserva-
tions are frequently overlooked, and operating budgets remain low.

1 lowever, tribes can now exercise full control overeducation on their
lands. They have the authority to establish and enforce policies that
define the nature of education for their constituents just as states do
for their school districts. The example set by the Rosebud Sioux
Tribe’s Education Code demonstrates the impact this government
has made in assuring that the language and culture of the Sicangu
Eakota people will lie significant forces in training teachers and
developing curricula for schools on their reservation lands.

Educational conditions on several reservations will he affeeted by
recent tribal economic development as a result of gaining opera-
tions. Anecdotal evidence suggests both positive and negative re-
sults. Positive results include the tribes having assigned high priority
to education and other infrastructural svslotns; in sonic cases, reser-

til.

70/1

Research k;> Suppori Improved Praoice in Indian Ecucahgn

vation education systems have received better funding than ever
before. Negative results include the impacts on some home and
family conditions. The overall effects must be studied sooner or
later.

We often say that, as Native people, wc view the world holistically.
The relationships among the parts are important to understanding
the whole. Our thinking about education must reflect this compre-
hensive and holistic view of teaching and learning. Western thought
and approaches to education have resulted in categorical and sepa-
rate systems in our lives. Schooling is often viewed as separate from
other institutions that impact us daily. More connections need to be
made between schooling and the other critical settings in daily life.

All in all, the situation for Indian education remains as it was in
1991 when John Tippeconnic stated:

There is reason to be cautiously optimistic about the future of
Indian education in the United States, but it will take a broader
approach. This approach should include a partnership among
tribes, states, the federal government and other interest groups
that will provide leadership and minimize politics while maxi-
mizing quality education for Indian students. ,!1

Notes

1. Karen Ga\1on Swisher (Standing Rock Sioux) is Dean of In-
struction at Haskell Indian Nations University. John W. Tippeconnic
III (Comanche) teaches Education Policy Studies and directs the
American Indian Leadership Program at The Pennsylvania State
University.

2. See National Center for Educational Statistics, C 'haracteristics.

S. National Dialogue Project, Our Voices. 7.

4. Swisher, “From Passive to Active," 4.

5. See Robbins and Tippeconnic. Research in American Indian
Education and Tippeconnic and Swisher, “American Indian Educa-
tion."

(\ See Cahape. Blueprints for Indian Education .

7 - Deyhlc and Swisher, “Research," 170. For additional informa-

K‘\rin G avion Swismrc & John W. Tih ; (« > nnk HI

tion regarding the Peach Springs bilingual education effort, see
Watahomigie and Yamamoto, “Linguistics in Action"; McCarty,
Huaiapai: and Watahomogie, “Discussants Comments.

8. See St. Germaine, “BIA Schools Complete First Step" and St.
Germaine, “Bureau Schools Adopt Goals 2000.

9. See Tippeconnic and Jones, “Description of Family and Child

Education."

10. Tippeconnic, “Education of American Indians," 202.

Bibliography

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ment Xeeds for the 1990s. ERIC Digest. Charleston, VVV: ERIC Clearing-
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Clean’, Linda Miller, and Thomas D. Peacock. Collected Wisdom: American
Indian Education . Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. 1998.

Deyhle, Donna, and Kami Swisher. “Research in American Indian and Alaska
Native Education: From Assimilation to Self-Determination. In Review of
Research in Education, vol. 22, edited by Michael VV. Apple. Washington.
DC: American Educational Research Association. 1997.

Garrod, Andrew, and Colleen Lirimore. eds. Eirst Person . First Peoples: Xa-
tivc American College Graduates / ell Their Life Stories. Ithaca, NY : C ornell
University Press, 1997.

Huff. Delores J. To Live Heroically: Institutional Racism and American In-
dian Education. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1997.

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McCail v, Teresa l,. / luakipai Bilingual Academic Excellence Program: Mend-
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338.

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. “Bureau Schools Adopt Goals 2000.” Journal of American Indian

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Tippeconnic, John W., III. ‘The Education of American Indians: Policy, Prac-

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Tippeconnic. John W., Ill, and Karen Swisher. “American Indian Education."
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r. ^ ■

Index

acculturation, 3-21, 87, 137, 150,
165, 182-83, 190, 195, 207. 277
See also assimilation
Acorn a Pueblo, 92
ACT (American College Test), 194,
240-41,297

activism, 220-21, 225, 271-73, 276
Administration for Native Ameri-
cans, 283

Adoption Promotion and Stability
Act , 73

advanced placement. 303
affirmative action, 271
agriculture, 4. 12. 13, 14. 18. 278
Alaska, 12, 13.44. 84, 93
Alaska Native Claims Settlement
,4r/(ANCSA), 93

Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative, 44
Alberta, 16
Albuquerque. 261
Alcatraz Island, takeover of. 272,
276

alcohol abuse. See substance abuse
Algonquian. 11
Alta California, 9. 11, 16
American Anthropological Associa-
tion, 285

American Historical Association,
285

American Indian Culture and
A\ search Journal 46, 284
American Indian Higher Education
Consortium (All l EC), 37. 40,
259. 262- 63. 266. 268, 269, 275
American Indian Movement, 272
American Indian Quarterly. 284
American Indian Science and
Engineering Society (AISKS),
297

American Society for Kt h noli istory,
285

Americans with Pisahilities Act
(ADA). 71

Apache, Western. 2^9
archaeoastronomy, 278
Ankara, 128

Arizona. 9, 12, 13. 125. 259. 300

Arizona State University, 299
Arkansas, 112

Armstrong, Samuel Chapman, 24 n
art, 278, 280. 284
Ashton-Warner, Sylvia, 110
assessment, 47, 70, 71, 90, 94. 96,
121, 298, 301

performance-based, 44, 161-76
assimilation. 59, 67. 74, 85. 87, 88,
97, 111-12, 114, 138-39, HO,
206, 207, 223, 283, 295-96, 304
See also acculturation
Association of Community Tribal
Schools (ACTS), 37. 40, 50
/Vs* in, Alexander, 273
[uyustus E / tan 'kins- Robert 7\
Stafford elementary and
Secondary School Improi 'cmcnt
Amendments. 66, 73, 126
Axtell. James, 277

Baptists. 19, 210
Barba, Robert, 155
Basso, Keith, 279

Bay Mills Community College, 260

Begave, Tim, 301

Bemidji, MN. 124

Bemidji State University, 275

Berkhofer, Robert. 275

Big Foot, 272

Slack- Elk Speaks (Noihardt ), 274 .
279

Blaekfeet Community College, 260
Biish, I lelen, 280
Blue Quills Residential School, 16
boarding schools, 6. 8. 12. 14, 15, 17,
19. 62. 75. 96. 111.1 13, 136, 146,
181-82, 207, 208-12, 221, 226,
283

Boas. Franz, 280
Boston, 11

Brennan, William, 63
British Columbia, 16, 24n, 212,

227n

Broun. Dee. 273
drown i\ Hoard of Education of
Topeka. Kansas, 60

lND£*

Bruchac, Joseph, 156

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), 12,

13, 37, 42, 53,56, 108, 110, 171,
173,210, 297

schools funded by, 33, 35, 36,

38, 42, 43, 45,’ 58. 67, 69, 71,

72, 73, 74, 75, 85, 92, 96, 146,
162, 167, 168, 175, 176, 243,
244, 296,297,300,801
Burnette, Robert, 261
Bury My Heart at l Vou tided Knee
(Brown), 273
Bush, George, 73, 116

Caduto, Michael, 156

Cajete, Gregory. 44

California, 11, 12, 24n, 54, 59, 63.

64, 167-68, 272. 2/8
missions. 9-10, 13-14. 16
California learning Reeord. 167,
169-70, 176

Cankdeska Cikana Community
College, 260

Carl D. Perkins Vocational and
Applied Technology education
Act. 66, 73

Carlisle Indian School, PA, 24n, 111,
211

Carter, Jimmy, 263
Catawba, 278

Catholic Church, 7, 9-10, 15-16, 19
Franciscans, 13, 14-15
Jesuits, 7, 10. 13, 277
Center for Indian Kducation, 299
Center for Language in Learning,
168, 171, 176

Center for Native American Studies,
272

Changes in the Land (Cronon). 278
Chapter 1 program, 168
Ch avers. Dean, 175
Chemawa Indian School. OR. 24n
Cherokee, 34,40. 112,279
Cheyenne, 272

Cheyenne Circle Keepers, 129
Cheyenne River Community
College, 260

Chiloceo Indian Agricultural
School. OK. 13. 15, 24n

Chippewa, 13

Red Lake Band. 126, 127
Choctaw, 34, 109, 112, 279
Choris, Ludovik, 16
Christianity, 3, 6-11, 16-17, 19-20,
22n, 23’ 26, 30, 181,208,210,
212,277, 280
Civil Rights Act, 59, 69
Civil Rights movement, 271
Cleary*, Linda Miller, 155. 208, 301
Clinton. Bill, 224
Coalition of Indian Controlled
School Boards (CICSB). 37
Coast Mi wok. 1 6
Coehiti Pueblo, 299
Code of Ethics of the National
Association of Social I Vorkers.
205, 213, 215, 233
Coldwater, Canada, 13
Collected Wisdom (Cleary), 301
College of the Menominee Nation.
260

Collier, John, 22n
Colorado. 272
Columbian Exchange. The
(Crosby), 277

Commission on Minority Participa-
tion in Kducation and American
Life, 274

Committee for Native American
Rights, 53-54

corporal punishment, 57-58
Costanoan, 16

Council on Social Work Kducation
(CSWK), 216, 218
counseling, 127, 179-95, 220, 250
Coushatta, Louisiana, 114
Crazy Horse School, SD. 300
Cronon, William, 278
Crosby, Alfred W„ Jr., 277
Crow, 92. 275

Crownpoint Institute of Technol-
ogy, 260

cultural diversity. 34, 108, 114, 121,
122, 128. 130. 152, 182, 188. 194.
195.214,217.221.224,274
See also muUicullurnlism

310

Indf x

curricula

culturally relevant. 21, 36, 39,

44, 83-98, 107-30, 139, 152,
153, 154, 156, 175, 223-24,
250,251,300,301, 304
legal issues, 58-59, 68
Native American studies
programs, 271-85
social work, 216-17
traditional, 14. 85-86, 145. 146-
47, 181, 183,303
tribal college, 250, 262, 265-66
Custer Pied for } 'our Sins ( Helena),
273

D-Q University, 260

Panin Report, 14

Peat ft and Rebirth of the Seneca.

The (Wallace), 277-78
Deloria, Vine, Jr., 273. 276, 281
Demallic, Ray, 279
Denver Indian Center, 300
Des Moines. 59

Dine College. 35, 250. 259, 260
See also Navajo Community
College
Dine, Inc., 261

discrimination, 19. 59, 62. 71, 78n,
85, 203, 206, 207, 214, 221. 224,
225, 249
See also racism

disease, 4, 10, II, 15, 2 In, l8t, 277
Disjjosscssiny (he American Indian
(Jai obs), 276
Dobyns, Henry, 277
drop-out rates, 36. 42, 112, 208,
222-23, 243, 296. 297. 298, 299
drug abuse. .See substance abuse
Dull Knife Memorial College, 260
Duncan, William, 24n

Educational Equality Project, 297
Education Amendment > (1972),
Title IX of the. 66, 69
Education Amendments ( 1978), 37,
66,71-72

Education of All Handicapped
( hi/drrn Act . 63. 66, 70-71
Id Cajun. CA, 168
HI Paso. 9

Elementary and Secondary
Education Act. 66, 68
Idiot, John, 10— II, 17
employment, 42, 90, 117, 183, 184,
187, 208, 245. 250. 265, 273
encomiendas. 8, 9
enrollment statistics. 240, 243, 245,
296-97

Equity in Education Land-Grant
Status Act. 259
Krdrieli, Ixniise, 279
Erickson, Frederick, 86. 87. 89-90
etlinohistory, 271-72
European and the Indian. The
(Axtell), 277

facilities, upgrading school, 45
Fajada Butte. NM, 278
Family and Child Education (FACE)
Program, 301

Eedei 'ally l m pat 'ted A reas Aid Ac 7.
45

Fees!, Christian 1\. 280
Field Museum, 128
File Hills Colony, Saskatchewan,
23-24 n

First Person. Eirst Peoples
(Garrod). 301
Fletcher, Alice, 12

Fond du Lac Tribal and Community
College, 260
Fortas, Abe, 60
Port Belknap College, 260
Fort Bert hold Community College.
260

Fort Peck Community College. 260
France. See New France
Franklin r. Gwinnett County Public
Schools, 69

('rank's binding, WA, 124

gaming, 41. 43. 120, 28 1 , 304
Garrod, Andrew, 301
Genoa Indian School. NIC 24 n
Gila River Indian Community
Tribal Council, 299
( ioals 2000: Edm • ate 'America Art.

66.74, 163,301
Gorman. Guv, 261
Goss e. Lope/. 58

311

Ini ;t x

government-to-governnu*nl
relations, 40. 41, 67. 119, 281,

304

graduation rates, 240-42, 245-51,

296 . 300

Grass Mountain, 13

Great Britain. .Sir New Kngland

Green, Candace, 280

Hampton Institute, VA. 12, 24 n
Handsome I-ake religion, 277
I fan r/rd Educational Review. 301
Haskell Indian Nations University,
24 n, 250, 260, 265, 266
Haskell Institu’e, KS, 24n, 18 i
Hassanimesit, MA, 23n
Ilatathli, Ned, 261
Havasupai, 115
I lawaii. 227n

Head Start Program Act. 66. 68
higher education. See

post. secondary education
Hogan, Linda, 279
Homy v. Poe , 63

House Made of Pawn ( Momaday),
279-80, 282
Houser, Allan, 280
Hualapai, 115, 125-26.300
Hudson, Hendrick. 63
Huff, Delores ,L. 301

Impact Aid, 66. 67-68
Improi iny A merit *a s St 'iioo/s A t
66. 74

Indian Child Welfare Act (ICW A).

66. 72-73,79-80,211
Indian Claims Commission, 277
Indian Education: A national
Tragedy (Kennedy Report). 35.
69-70, 212

Indian Education Act. 36 -3 7 , 45.
66. 68-69

Indian Elementary and Secondary
School Assistance Act. 66, 68
Indian Cam iny Regulatory Act,

281

Indian Health Service. 37

Indian Nations A t Risk. 163, 297,
300

Indian Nations At Risk Task Force,
244, 248, 297. 298
Indian Reading Series, 127
Indian Self-Determination and
Education Act , 37, 66, 70. 276
Indians’ New World, ///c(Merrell).
278

Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (1 DKA), 66, 70-
71, 175-76
Inouve. Daniel, 116
Institute of American Indian Arts,
260, 280

Invasion of America. The
(Jennings), 276-77
Invasion Within. ///e(Axtell). 2"?
Iowa. 59

Iron Hyes Cody. 278
Iroquois, 11, 173, 272
Isleta Pueblo, 126

.Jacobs, Wilbur. 276
.Jennings, Francis, 276
Johnson, Lyndon, 35
Johnson O'Malley Act (JOM ). 37.

47, 66. 67, 68
Jojola. 'led. 126
Journal o f A merit \ an Indian
Educutnei, 46

Kansas, 24 n, 128, 181
Kawagley, Oscar, 155
"Keepers of the Farth.” 156
Keepers of the Came ( Martin ). 278
Kellogg Foundation. SceW. K.

Kellogg Foundation
Kennedy. Robert F., 212
Kennedy Report. See Indian

Education: A National Tragedy
Kenlake. Canada. 10
Keresan Pueblo, 108, 137-39. 299
Kickapoo, 96
Kildee, Dale !•., 76
King Philip’s War, 1 1
Kotzebue, Olio von. 16

3 1 . 1

31 /

IhCS *

Lac Com te Oreilles Ojibwa Commu-
nity College, 260
Laguna Pueblo, 92, 137
Lake Sinicoe Narrows, Canada, 13
Lakota, 188, 272. 279
Sicangu, 261, 304
language. See Native language
Uirimore, Colleen, 301
I.uu v . Nichols, 58
Utwrence, KS, 24n
Learning Record, 162, 167-68, 171—
72, 173, 175, 176
Leech Lake Tribal College, 260
legal issues, 53-76
Le.feune, Father Paul, 7, 10
Leupp, Francis K.. 67
Lewis, Henry, 278
Little Big Horn College, 260, 275
Little Hoop Community College.

260

Little Priest Tribal College, 260

Locke. Patricia, 175

Look to the Mountains (Cajele), 44

Los Angeles, 54, 280

Louisiana, 114

Lytle, Clifford, 276

Maclvor, Madeline, 155

Mnkali, 272

Manitoba, 113

Maori, 110

Marshall, .lohn, 276

Martha's Vineyard. MA, II

Martin. Calvin, 278

mascots, sports, 21. 54-55, 225

Massachusetts. 10. 17. 23n

Mayliew, Thomas, Jr., 1 1

Mayhew, Thomas, Sr.. 11

Mean Spirit ( 1 Iogan ), 279

Mennonites, 19

Menominee. 93

Meriam Report, 22n, 86

Merrell, James, 278

Mestizo. 14. 18

Mellakatla. AK. 1.3, 24n

Metlakatla. British Columbia, 24n

Megerv. Nebraska. 64

Mills r. Hoard of Education. 63, 71

Minneapolis, 272

Minnesota, 124, 272
Minorities in I lip her Education
(Astin), 273
Miwok, Coast, 16
Mohawk, 16

Momaday, N. Scott, 279-80, 282,
284

Montana State University, 275
Moravians, 19
Mormons. 19

multiculturalism. 119, 122, 126. 155,
180, 239, 249, 274, 285
See also cultural diversity

Nakai, Raymond. 26 1
Natick, MA. 17, 23n
National Advisory Council on
Indian education, 69, 248
National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA), 246-48
National Congress of American
Indians (NCA1), 37, 38, 40
National Dialogue Project on
American Indian education, 297
National educational Longitudinal
Study (Nei*S:88) f 240-42
National Indian education Associa-
tion (NIKA), 37, 39,40, 76
National Indian School Boards
Association (N1SBA), 37
National Museum of the American
Indian Act. 282

National Native Curriculum Project,
129

National Science Foundation. 264
Nations Within, ///('(Deloria), 276
Native American Art Studies
Association, 284
Native American Caucus, U.S.

I louse of Representatives, 76
A ‘at ii ‘i » A merit 'an ( irai vs Pratt ’i ‘t ion
and Repatriation Act , 282
Nat h ’c American Languages Act
(NAI A), 59. 66, 73-74, 116-18
Native American Rights Fund
(NARF). 37. 51,76
Native American studies. 271-85
Notice Arts of North America
(Fees!), 280

313 . . ,

Index

Native language

assimilation, impact on, 10, 18,
23n, 136, 165, 173-74, 181,

182, 207, 212

curricula, incorporated into, 21,

35, 36, 39, 40, 44, 46, 87, 88,
89-92, 96-97, 107-30, 151.
299-300, 301, 304
disappearance of, 20, 73-74,
111-18, 155, 207
study of, 278-79, 283-84
Native languages, 151
Cherokee, 34, 279
Chippewa, 127
Choctaw, 279
Clnimash, 116
Creek, 279
Crow, 92
Hopi, 90

Hualapai, 115, 300
Keres, 108, 110
Kiowa, 279
Dakota, 279.

Navajo, 36, 90, 114, 279
Ojibwa, 279
Pit River, 115
Red Lake. 127
Shoshoni, 115

Navajo, 36, 90-91, 114. 165, 188,

261

Navajo Area School Boards Associa-
tion, 37

Navajo Community College, 35, 36,
259, 260, 262, 275
See also Dine College
Navajo Community College Act. 36
Navajo Reservation, 35
Navajo Tribal Council, 275
Nebraska, 24n, 128
Nebraska Historical Society. 128
Nebraska Indian Community
College, 260
Neihardt, John, 279
New England, 10-11. 16-17, 19, 277,
278

New France, 7, 8, 10. H. 13, 15, 16,
19, 23 n, 277
New Jersey, 1!

New Mexico. 9, 261, 278. 280
New Spain, 9-10. 19, 23n

New York City, 171
Nichols, Richard, 175
Norris. Helen, 128
North Dakota, 128
Northwest Indian College, 260

Office of Indian Education, 69. 176,
300

Oglala Dakota College, 260, 264,

265, 266
Ohio, 58

Oklahoma, 12-13. 108. 109, 112,

128, 129

Omaha reservation, 12
Ohate, Juan de, 9
One Third of a Nation. 274
Onondaga, Canada, 15
Oregon, 24n, 64

Organization of American Histori-
ans, 285
Osage, 279

Our I bices. Our Vision, 297

parent involvement, 35-37, 39. 4L
43, 44-45, 67, 68, 70-71, 72, 75,
76, 89-91, 92, 95, 122-23. 127,
128, 166, 171-72, 175, 214, 222-
25, 251, 301
patio schools, 18
Patterns of Indian Burning in
California (Lewis), 278
Pawnee, OK, 128
Peach Springs, AZ, 125, 300
Peacock, Thomas, 156, 208, 301
pedagogy, 3, 5, 6, 13-18, 19-21.

209, 298, 304

Pennsylvania, 11, 24n, 181,211
Pennsyh *■ ania Association for
Retarded C 'hildren ( P.A .R.C.) i\
Commonwealth of Pennsyh w-
nia. 63, 71

Pennsylvania Stale University
American Indian Leadership
Program, 300
Petersen, Karen, 280
Philips, Susan, 86, 87, 88
Pierce r. . Society of the Sisters of the
Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.
64

pjerron. Father Jean, 16
314

Indix

Pilgrims, 10
Pima reservation. 12
Pine Ridge reservation, 13
population statistics, 21, 182, 183,
274, 277

postsecondary education, 239-51,
259-68, 271-85

poverty, 5. 43, 203, 206, 207, 208,
214,221,225,243,244
Prairie de la Magdelaine, Canada,

Pratt, Richard Henry. 24n, 210-11,
212

praying towns, British, 8, 10-11,
16-17, 19

Progressive Colony, AZ, 12, 13
Project Preserve, MN, 124
Pueblo, 9, 11, 156, 160
Aconia, 92
Isleta, 126
Laguna, 92, 137
Keresan, 108, 137-39, 299
Zia, 108-09
Pueblo Revolt, 9
Punkapaug, MA, 23n
Puritans, 10, 16-17, 19
Puyallup, 272

Quakers. AVr* Society of Friends
Quebec, 7

racism, 123, 194, 195, 202, 203,

206, 208, 212, 214, 223, 224-25,
249, 272

See a/so discrimination
Red Man 's /.and. I Vhite Man s /.air
(Washburn), 276
Red Shirt Table, 13
reduceiones, 8, 10, 19
reduet ions. 8, 10, 19
Regeneration Through Violence
(Slotkin), 276
Rehabilitation Act. 71
Republic, NF, 128
resettlement of Native peoples, 8-
13, 19, 181-82
Riverside. CA. 24
Roessel, Robert. 261
Roessel, Ruth. 261
Romero, Mary K.. 299

Rosebud reservation, 13
Rosebud Sioux, 40, 41, 261, 304
Rough Rock Demonstration School,
AZ, 35-36, 40, 96

Sacaton, AZ, 12, 13
Salem, OR, 24n
Satina, KS, 128

Salish Kootenai College, 260, 265,
266, 275

San Antonio Independent School
District v. Rodriguez. 64
Sand Creek massacre, 272
San Diego Slate University, 275
San Francisco, 16, 59
San Francisco State University, 272
Santa Fe, 280
Saskatchewan, 14, 16
SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test), 163,
164, 194,240-42, 297
Sauer, Carl, 278
Scholder, Fritz, 280
School District o/Abington
Township u. Schcnipp, 58
school facilities, upgrading, 45
Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS),
242-43

Seger Colony, OK, 12
self-determination. See tribal self-
determination

Seminole Tribe of Florida r. United
States . 281
Seneca, 12, 277-78
Serrano r. Priest, 64
Sherman Institute, CA. 24n
Sicangu Lakota, 261, 304
Silko, Leslie Marmon, 284
Sillery, Canada, 10
Sintc Gleska University, 40, 260,
264, 265, 266

Sioux. See Lakota; Rosebud Sioux
Sioux Valley Reserve, 113
Sisseton Wahpcton Community
College, 260
Sitting Bull College, 260
Sixth Grandfather, 7//<'(l)emallie),
279

Slotkin. Richard, 276
Snyder Act, 66-67
social work, 86, 201-26

315

|t','L»E X

Society of Friends, 11, 12, 19
sociolinguistics, 279
South Dakota, 272, 300
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic
Institute, 260
Spain. See New Spain
Stanford University, 27-1
stereotypes. 3, 5, 8, 17, 18. 21, 118.
120* 123. 124. 143, 151, 152, 273.
275, 284, 303

St. John l.atcran School. Mexico,

14, 18

Stone Child Community College,

260

St. Peter’s Mission School, A/. 300
Strengthening Underrepresented
Minorities in Math and Science
(SUM MS). 299

student assessment. See assessment
Studio, The, 280

substance abuse. Ill, 203. 208, 244,
298, 299

Swisher, Karen, 175

7mc//tv - (Ashton- Warner), 1 10
testing, 44, 161-68. 173-76

standardized, 97, 161, 162, 163-
65, 168, 173, 175, 242, 298
Texas. 9

textbooks. 21, 59. 120. 123. 124.

131-32n, 223, 303
Thinking Woman, 137-39
Third World Student Strike, 273
Tinker i\ Pcs Moines Independent
Community School District. 59-
60, 65

Title I funds, 163, 168, 171
To Lire Heroically ( l luff), 301
treaty rights. 4h 57, 119. 129, 247,
263, 272, 277, 280. 281, 282
Tribal College Journal of American
Indian Illy her education . 46
tribal colleges. 37-38, 40, 43, 45,
72, 125, 249-50. 259-68. 302,
304

funding of, 263-65
list of, 260

tribal language. .See Native language
Tribady C bn trolled Community
College Assistance Act, 37. 66,

72. 263

Trihallg Controlled School Act. 37
tribal self-determination. 5, 6, 20,

33. 34. 35. 37, 40-41, 45. 46, 70,
74, 76, 119. 120, 136, 215, 276,
281-82,295-96.304
Trueba, Henry T., 86, 87, 88
Tsaile, AZ, 259. 260
Tsimshian, 13, 24n
Turtle Mountain Community
College. 260

United National Indian Tribal
Youth (UNITY). 128
United Tribes Technical College,

260

University of California at Berkeley.

272, 274, 275

University of California at Davis.

273, 275

University of California at I.os
Angeles (UCIA), 275. 285
University of Minnesota. 273. 275,
279

University of Montana. 275
University of North Carolina at
Pembroke, 275

University of Oklahoma, 191, 275,
279

University of South Dakota, 275
University of Wyoming. 275
U.S. Congress, 24n, 36, 37. 38. 42,
43, 63. 66-74. 128. 209, 263,
276, 304

House Native American Caucus.
76

U.S. Department of Kdueatiou, 69,
129, 162, 164. 166. 171, 243
Office of Kdncational Research
and Improvement. 74
U.S. Supreme Court, 20, 54-65. 69.
74, 76. 276. 281

Vitoria. Francisco de, 276
Vizenor, (Jerald. 284

'l 1 A

Indf*

Wa He Lute Indian School. WA. 124
Wallace, Anthony F. t\, 277
Wamesit, MA, 23n
Warm Springs Indian Community,
88

Washburn, Wilcomb, 276
Washington, D.C.. 276
Washington state, 124. 272
Welch, James, 284
Western Apache. 279
White House Conference on Indian
Kdueation. 244, 297, 298
/ f ’hi/e Man *%* Indian . The
(Berkhofer). 275
Wichita, 128
Wilkinson, Charles. 276
Wisconsin r. Yoder . 64-65
Witherspoon, Clary, 279
W. K. Kellogg Foundation. 38. 259.
260, 263
Wolf, Kric. 282

Women’s National Indian Associa-
tion (WNIA). 12
1 1 bod r. Strickland . 6 1
World Indigenous Peoples Confer-
ence on Kdueation, 304
Wounded Knee, 81)

Klementary School, 300
massacre, 272

takeover of trading post, 276

Yakama. 2~2
Yavapai. 91
Yazzie, Allen. 261
Yup’ik, 93

Zia Pueblo, 108-09

What is "Indian education"
today? What will it look like
in the future?

These were the questions Karen Gayton Swisher and John
W. Tippeconnic III posed to a dozen leading American
Indian scholars and practitioners.

They responded with the essays in Next Steps: Research
and Practice to Advance Indian Education , which explore
two important themes. The first is education for tribal
self-determination. Tribes are now in a position to exer-
cise full control of education on neir lands. They have the
authority to establish and enforce policies that define the
nature of education for their constituents, just as states
do for their school districts. The second theme is the need

KAREN CAYTOH
SWISHER (Standing
Rock Sioux) is dean
of instruction at
Haskell Indian Nations
University. In addition
to serving as chair
of the Teacher Educa-
tion Department at
Haskell, Swisher has
been a faculty member
at the University of
Utah and Arizona State
University, where she
directed the Center for
Indian Education. She
has also been an ele-
mentary school teacher
and principal.

to turn away from discredited deficit theories of educa-
tion, and turn instead to an approach that builds on the
strengths of Native languages and culture and the basic
resilience of Indigenous peoples. This second theme could
be especially important for the 90 percent of Indian
students who attend public schools.

Next Steps is appropriate for multicultural and teacher
education programs. It addresses facets of K-12 and post-
secondary Native American education programs, including
their history, legal aspects, curriculum, access, and
achievement.

JOHN W.

TIPPECONNIC III

(Comanche) is a pro-
fessor of education at
The Pennsylvania State
University, where he
directs the American
Indian Leadership
Program. He has also
directed the Office of
Indian Education, U.S.
Department of Educa-
tion, and the Office of
Indian Education Pro-
grams, Bureau of Indian
Affairs, U.S. Department
of Interior.

CLEARINGHOUSE ON RURAL
EDUCATION AND SMALL SCHOOLS

Appalachia Educational Laboratory
Post Office Box 1348
Charleston, WV 25325 -1348

ISBN 1-650765 -2

■ i > ii mwm ii ii

781880

7852

-8

90000

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